Under Narendra Modi's decade-long tenure as Prime Minister of India, the country has made worldwide headlines for putting in place a majoritarian infrastructure that has seen a crackdown on press freedom, a ruthless evisceration of civil liberties, religious polarization, caste bigotry, institutional debilitation and demagoguery-and an overall democratic downslide. The world's largest democracy, it would seem, is hurtling towards disarray and chaos. Is the political legitimacy accorded to authoritarian populists because of, ironically enough, their popular mandates, the biggest threat to democracy itself?

In 2024, former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha argues that India is in a state of free fall. With the country set to go to the polls once again, he raises urgent issues-from the othering of Muslim minorities and the bulldozing of citizens' rights and even homes, to the surreptitious dismantling of the judiciary and the unfettered growth of crony capitalism and plutocracy that has aggravated income inequality. Compelling and important, this is a must-read for anyone concerned about the nation's future and their own.