There is controversy about the health of democracy in India. Opposition politician, Rahul Gandhi claimed 'democracy is dead in India. PM Narendra Modi replied, India is the 'Mother of Democracy'. Who is right? What does it tell us about the emerging multipolar world? This episode discusses:

- the controversy about the health of democracy in India today and how it reflects tensions about the rise of India

- the history behind the claim that India is the Mother of Democracy, contrary to most Western myths

- the Arthshastra (or 'Statecraft', c 300 BCE to 300 CE) that expresses the democratic ethos of ancient Indian political thought and is this episode's fragment from the 'Burning Archive', the cultural heritage of the multipolar world.

Full details about the material referred to during this show can be obtained from my free weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to at jeffrich.substack.com.

92. India. Mother of Democracy