From Democracy Digest.

India’s actions in Kashmir reflect the corrosion of its own democracy, argues Pratap Bhanu Mehta, University Professor at Ashoka University. Indian democracy has always been messy, he writes for Foreign Affairs…

….but the fragmentation of power across political parties and institutions has helped provide checks and balances against untrammelled executive might. Recent years have witnessed a troubling consolidation of power. Politically, the opposition is weak and divided. Modi and the Hindu nationalist BJP face no strong challenge from their political rivals. The rudderless Congress Party—the center-left, secular party that has ruled India for most of its existence—is mired in an internal leadership battle and is divided on the issue of Article 370, unable to mount an effective ideological resistance to Modi.

India has long failed to make the promise of democracy alluring to Kashmiris, Mehta adds. But the actions of this government, and the acquiescence of democratic institutions and political parties, make it even more unlikely that Kashmir will easily accept New Delhi’s rule. India thinks it has won Kashmir, but it might be losing the soul of its democracy in the process. RTWT

On August 5, 2019, India stripped the special status of Kashmir and absorbed the state into the Indian Union, The Middle East Institute reports. Prime Minister Modi’s decision and the imposition of a communications blackout and strict curfew was denounced in Pakistan and questioned elsewhere.

See full story here.