'Woke' US NGO Freedom House claims India only 'partly free' & butchers map; gets an earful

In its latest annual report, Freedom House - which describes itself as an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world - has said that India’s status as a democracy and free society has been downgraded to ‘partly free’. In doing so, it has also done one more thing to irk Indians globally - post a completely butchered map of the country.

'Political rights & civil rights eroded in India,' claims US NGO

The US government-funded NGO, in its report titled 'Freedom in the World 2021 - Democracy under Siege' said, "India, the world’s most populous democracy, dropped from Free to Partly Free status in Freedom in the World 2021. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its state-level allies continued to crack down on critics during the year, and their response to COVID-19 included a ham-fisted lockdown that resulted in the dangerous and unplanned displacement of millions of internal migrant workers." The 'ham-fisted' claim coming from a country that has a third of India's population but almost 3.5 times the fatalities.

"The ruling Hindu nationalist movement also encouraged the scapegoating of Muslims, who were disproportionately blamed for the spread of the virus and faced attacks by vigilante mobs. Rather than serving as a champion of democratic practice and a counterweight to authoritarian influence from countries such as China, Modi and his party are tragically driving India itself toward authoritarianism," the report said.

In 2018, 2019, and 2020, India had been rated as “free” in Freedom House’s reports, though its scores on a scale of 100 had declined during this period from 77 to 71, according to Outlook.

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'Why should anyone take you seriously?'

Several Indian netizens have rejected the report and responded sharply to it. Some alleged that the Freedom House has been paid to create this report. Many also disagreed saying that they have "full freedom" in India and also pointed out the incorrect map of India used in the report. The report deliberately excluded the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from the map of India.

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