It’s a question I am often asked and my reply pleases neither side of the political spectrum in these polarised times. Having witnessed firsthand Indira Gandhi’s 1975 Emergency, I am frequently quizzed whether the situation in the country is really better 50 years down the line. If I suggest that today’s restrictions on the media are not as draconian as the ones between 1975 and 1977, those left aghast by the creeping authoritarianism of Narendra Modi’s rule view me as someone who has sold out to the government. But can sledgehammer legislation that upheld prior censorship, putting dissidents behind bars indefinitely without even the farce of a trial, temporarily suspending the sacred constitutional right of habeas corpus, etc. be better than whatever is happening in the country today? The government’s cheerleaders are equally unhappy with my response. The Emergency may have been worse, but are we insidiously and slowly heading in the very same direction?

India today is not a shining example of the democracy that the framers of our Constitution envisaged. Recently, the Delhi High Court pulled up the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing for high-handedly shutting down the portal NewsClick six years ago, arresting the editor and invoking anti-terror laws against him. Television channels devote far too much time to propagating government narratives through BJP spokespersons or fellow travellers, even if this is couched as debate. This format........

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