On 31 August 2024, Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC), criticized the Sweden-based independent research institute Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). Sanyal’s critique was triggered by a statement from Ebba Busch, Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister, who claimed that Islam must align with Swedish values and that Sharia law has no place in the country.
Through a witty post on his official X account, Sanyal tagged V-Dem and questioned, “Would be interested to know if @vdeminstitute’s supercomputer adds or deducts points for these statements from the Deputy PM of its home country.”
Would be interested to know if @vdeminstitute ‘s supercomputer adds or deducts points for these statements from the Deputy PM of its home country. https://t.co/vnWZhIyzoZ
— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) August 30, 2024
Instead of addressing the issue or leaving it alone, the institute—rather than engage with Sanjeev Sanyal’s critique—chose to block him. Yet, this institute continues to influence how sovereign governments are perceived through its biased research and indices, such as The Regimes of the World (RoW). This framework categorizes political systems into four types: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies, based on V-Dem’s Democracy Core indices.
In a subsequent post, Sanjeev Sanyal revealed that the V-Dem Institute had blocked him, and he included a screenshot to confirm the action. Sanjeev mocked, “So, @vdeminstitute has now blocked me!! So much for freedom and dialogue. This after I asked them a very common sense question about their home country.”
So, @vdeminstitute has now blocked me!!
So much for freedom and dialogue. This after I asked them a very common sense question about their home country. pic.twitter.com/mLaJq9StUk
— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) August 31, 2024
Earlier this year, the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute released a report labeling India as one of the “worst autocratisers” globally in recent times. According to the institute, India remained classified as an “electoral autocracy” in 2023. V-Dem assesses nations through a four-phase process, ranging from democratization to autocratization. Their report highlighted that 42 countries, including India, are experiencing a trend toward autocratization. The institute noted that India, home to 18% of the world’s population, represents about half of the people living in autocratizing countries. The report also claimed that the government under Narendra Modi has used laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism to suppress dissent.
When the institution faces similar scrutiny and criticism, it avoids the issue and blocks critics from its social media platforms.
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