'So much for freedom and dialogue..': Sanjeev Sanyal gets blocked by V-Dem following his attack on Sweden leader's Islam comments

Sanjeev Sanyal, an economist, author and part of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council

Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of PM Narendra Modi's Economic Advisory Council(PM-EAC)  on Sunday took a sharp swipe at Sweden’s Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute after Sweden's senior leader and Deputy Prime Minister  Ebba Busch reportedly said that Islam needs to adapt to Swedish values and Sharia law has no place in the 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

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Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) August 30, 2024

Sanjeev Sanyal took to X and wrote, "Would be interested to know if @vdeminstitute‘s supercomputer adds or deducts points for these statements from the Deputy PM of its home country," tagging a post of Sweden's Deputy PM's comment.

In a follow-up post, Sanjeev Sanyal wrote that he has, however, now been blocked by V-Dem Institiute and shared a screenshot confirming the same. "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," read Sanyal's post.

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

It should be noted that earlier this year, the Institute had released a report, calling India one of the “worst autocratisers” around the globe in recent times. The Varieties of Democracy Institute had also said that in 2023, India remained a ‘electoral autocracy.’ The Institute ranks nations in four phases. These range from democratisation to autocratisation.

The V-Dem in its report said that the process of autocratisation is on in 42 countries – including India. “India, with 18% of the world’s population, accounts for about half of the population living in autocratising countries," the institute said. The report said that the Narendra Modi-led government in India has used laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism to silence critics.