Those who downgraded India in democracy rankings are hypocrites: Jaishankar

New Delhi, Mar 15: External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar hit out at western human rights and democracy institutions that downgraded India in democracy rankings. He described these bodies as hypocrites.

Speaking at the India Today conclave, Jaishankar said that the downgrade reflected the frustration of those in the West, who has arrogated unto themselves the right to pass verdicts and are feeling frustrated that the current dispensation in India does not crave testimonials from them.

"It is hypocrisy. We have a set of self-appointed custodians of the world who find it very difficult to stomach that somebody in India is not looking for their approval, is not willing to play the game they want to play. So they invent their rules, their parameters, pass their judgments and make it look as if it is some kind of global exercise," Jaishankar said.

"Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all," the report said. Sweden's V-DEM described India as an "electoral autocracy," the minister also said.