[bkishan]

I wonder if Signal will be next. Then it will truly mark the beginning of the end for democracy in India.

[vinay_ys]

This is so hilarious and disconnected from reality. Democracy doesn't happen on Signal. The biggest sign that democracy is well and good in India is that we have well-run elections and orderly change of elected officials, and we have strong laws on books and more sensible laws get passed as well and all this is done in the open in broad daylight (and broadcast on YouTube). Taxes are paid and collected and spent – yes, there is corruption but that's not a strike against democracy. Also, we are in a vibrant multi-party system and quite a large part of the population identifies themselves with one party or another and volunteer to do party-ideology building work. These are signs of a healthy functioning democracy. Whatever happens to those 13 apps or Signal, it won't matter much to the citizenry of India.

[hnarn]

What an incredibly pessimistic definition of democracy. By your standards, even the People’s Republic of China could be considered very close to a functioning democracy, albeit with the caveat that they don’t allow multiple parties.

If free speech, independent media, lack of corruption, the right to privacy and the right to fair treatment by the law are not requirements to call something a democracy, then you are just making up your own definition of the word.

I’m not saying India isn't a democracy, but it’s not black and white, it’s a scale.

The Economists 2022 Democracy Index ranks India at #46 as a “flawed democracy”, together with countries like Poland and Italy. There’s no shame in that. Don’t let your own pride in your country blind you to the problems it has — no country is without them.

[azurenumber]

Blocking modes of communication will not affect citizens of india and is Democratic?

Please Explain.

[isanjay]

BJP won't last forever.

Next general elections aren't too far away

[coolg54321]

BJP will be there till there is a strong opposition party, congress is a mess

[0xDEF]

The rest of the world didn't care about Indian politics before the right-wing populist BJP was elected.

Many Westerners have seen Modi's name along with the year 2002 so they assume he has been the sole dictator of India since 2002.

[SanjayMehta]

Do these apps link with a functioning mobile number? If not, that's the most likely reason they have been targeted.

Interestingly the US is busy pushing the EARN IT act again right now.

[fathyb]

I was curious to see if Norway really did that so I looked it up: they didn't, they banned it on government devices, which makes sense to me.

[isanjay]

Did you create a throwaway account just do defend BJP ?

[mailund]

This is incorrect. You're not allowed to download TikTok onto a government issued device if you're employed by the government, but it is absolutely not banned in general.

[Martinussen]

What? You mean on the work device of politicians? Not quite a ban, that.

[villgax]

They banned it for gathering data they are not supposed to just like India. But Element & other secure communication services are being banned for a tangential reason

[humanlion87]

Does that mean there was no democracy in India before Signal existed? It does seem like a big exaggeration to mark the "beginning of the end of democracy" just because a single app gers banned. I am curious how many people in India use Signal.