FILE - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he speaks during an election campaign rally of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Hyderabad, India on April 1, 2019. As India, the world’s largest democracy, celebrates 75 years of independence on Aug. 15, 2022, its independent judiciary, diverse media and minorities are buckling under the strain. Experts and critics partly blame Modi's populist government for this backsliding, accusing him of using unbridled political power to undermine democratic freedoms and preoccupying itself with pursuing a Hindu nationalist agenda. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)