My piece in Foreign Policy:

India’s future as a democracy is at a crossroads: The country could either emerge stronger from this trial by fire or it could mark the demise of a truly exceptional experiment in democratic history in India’s 75th year of independence.

The Pegasus investigation is a moment of reckoning for the rest of the democratic world too. Israel, another proud democracy, has a lot to answer for about the sale of Pegasus, meant to surveil criminals and terrorists but instead used against civilians in a variety of countries. In a statement, the Israeli government said it “approves the export of cyberproducts exclusively to governmental entities, for lawful use, and only for the purpose of preventing and investigating crime and counterterrorism.”

Even though India has not officially admitted to being an NSO customer, many newspapers have reported that New Delhi is believed to have leased Pegasus. If Israel was to abide by its stated rules, it would have no option but to come clean and revoke India’s Pegasus license.

These latest revelations pose equally tough questions for the US. In a bid to counter an authoritarian Beijing, the Biden administration has positioned New Delhi as its major democratic partner in the region. Modi’s authoritarian and anti-democratic moves have often earned only mild rebukes from US administrations. (Stronger words have reportedly been used in private conversations with Indian officials.) Now, Biden administration may have to go public to stop Delhi from regressing further down an authoritarian road. It has to do so not only to ensure the success of its Indo-Pacific strategy but to help Indians fulfill their democratic dream. Indian democracy has also long been a beacon for other developing countries. There is too much for the world to lose if India’s democratic backsliding continues.

Democracies are, of course, not like individuals. When my cellphone was hacked, I could survive the ordeal to tell my story. But when a democracy is hacked, it runs the risk of dying, with no one left to tell its story. That is my fear of today’s India. That fear must not be allowed to come true.