India presents itself to the world as the largest democracy, a secular republic, a rising power and a dependable partner. Recent evidence suggests a widening gap between that self-portrait and reality. Democratic institutions are under strain at home, criminal networks and visa abuse are damaging India’s reputation abroad, and a transactional foreign policy is eroding trust among partners. These are not separate stories. They share one logic: image over accountability, majoritarian power over restraint, and interest over principle.

The clearest signals come from those who measure democracy. V-Dem ranks India 106th on its Electoral Democracy Index, scoring 0.38, the lowest since the Emergency of 1975, and classifies it as an electoral autocracy. Freedom House gives a historic low of 62 out of 100. New Delhi disputes such rankings, yet the trend is hard to dismiss, and saner minds in India themselves ask how long a model built on Hindu-nationalist identity can sustain national cohesion. Electoral integrity is the sharpest flashpoint. Special Intensive Revision removed an estimated 13.3-13.4 crore names from voter rolls, with over 71 per cent marked “absent or shifted.” The INDIA bloc and the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party protested and were met........

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