The crackdown on India’s political opposition

Elections are weeks away in India and opposition parties are attempting to take on the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term.

The opposition claims that Modi’s success rate has very little to do with his governance – but more because scores of his political rivals have been arrested or charged on questionable grounds. They say it has kneecapped the opposition and gamed the political arena in favour of the governing party.

In this episode of The India Report, Sreenivasan Jain examines whether these actions are – as the Prime Minister claims – part of his crusade against high-level corruption, or an unprecedented campaign against of the opposition which is deeply dangerous to India’s democracy.

Featuring:

Derek O’Brien – Member of Indian Parliament

Adish Aggarwala – President, Supreme Court Bar Association

Anjali Bhardwaj – Founder, Satark Nagrik Sangathan

Priyanka Kakkar – Chief Spokesperson, AAP

Maya Tudor – Professor, Blavatnik School of Government