Govt crackdowns on youth and NGOs betray fear of emerging leadership

In the "managed democracy" that India seems to be moving towards, there is space for only a single political vision

Except for the Emergency in 1975-77, no government has targeted political dissent as single-mindedly as the present one. While the state of Emergency was seen as exceptional, today the criminalisation of democratic resistance by the state has become a “normal” and continuous process. This is why the state’s attack on dissent appears far more egregious now. 

The latest onslaught are the amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to choke Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The government has targeted citizens’ movements like “United against Hate” and Pinjra Tod as well as others who protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and