This is to strongly imply that the current dispensation is autocratic. To compare Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship to the elected government of Narendra Modi is grossly erroneous.

The author further states that Modi has centralized power from institutions that were supposed to keep a check on him. One wonders which institutions he is referring to, since the judicial tyranny of the Supreme Court has continued unabated. Next, the contention is that institutional autonomy of the educational, legislative, economic and investigative agencies has declined.

It is pointless to examine every single such unsubstantiated claim made by the author and debunk it thoroughly but it is imperative to mark out some points: it was this NDA Government that substantially increased the autonomy of the Indian Institutes of Management through a legislation in 2017, and is currently aiming to increase the autonomy of the Indian Institutes of Technology.

The greatest challenge to legislative autonomy meanwhile has, for a long while, been the Supreme Court, and not Narendra Modi, who currently enjoys the confidence of a majority in the Lok Sabha. To argue that Modi has weakened institutions is a good punchline, but it is clearly far from reality.

The article proceeds to talk about the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) judgement and the 99th Constitutional Amendment as examples of the “majoritarian” government being tamed by the Supreme Court. This is a great narrative but not a representative one: one can easily frame the NJAC judgement as a tyrannical, undemocratic Supreme Court striking down an amendment that was passed by a democratically elected Parliament and ratified by a majority of state legislatures.

The narration in the article then shifts to the allegations and incidents that have occurred in the Supreme Court in the past 3 years.

The suicide note of the former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Kalikho Pul.

Allegations of corruption against former CJI Dipak Misra.

The Press Conference by four Senior Judges in January 2018.

Sexual Harassment Allegations against the current CJI, Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

None of these are, in fact, the fault of the central government; they seem to be entirely self-made. But that does not stop the author from stating the following: