In a just world, things would be different. Every individual would get what they deserve, the befitting punishment or reward for their actions. But that is not how human history has unfolded. It remains an unremitting story of persistent suffering and injustice. It is no wonder, then, that religion, the “opiate,” has sought to make sense of this tumultuous world through postulations about the mysterious ways of God, human free will, karma and justice in the afterlife: “that undiscovered country from whose borne no traveller returns.”The sheer randomness of human existence has long captivated philosophers and poets. Few have captured the contradictions of the human condition as precisely as Shakespeare. He describes the unfairness of life with potent brevity: “Some rise by sin, some by virtue fall!” In a world increasingly shaped by leaders like Donald Trump and Narendra Modi, more than ‘some’ are prospering through repression, duplicity, corruption and falsehood, while ordinary citizens bear the brunt. Consider the leaders who have thrown the world into turmoil and unfairly concentrated power, and yet face little accountability. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been in power for over 25 years. Xi Jinping’s rule in China is now in its 13th year, with no sign of change. Benjamin Netanyahu, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Kim Jong Un, Mohammed bin Salman and our self-proclaimed “Vishwaguru” Modi have each held untrammelled control in their respective countries for the better part of a decade, eroding civil liberties and the rule of law in the process. And in just 15 months, Trump has significantly disrupted the international order. Pope Leo recently talked about a world “ravaged by a handful of tyrants yet held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters,” a generous, if somewhat inaccurate, appraisal of the current state of the world. The V-Dem Institute’s analysis of democracy across 179 countries evidences that authoritarianism has spread inexorably across the globe. Its 2026 report identifies 92 countries as closed or electoral autocracies. In terms of population, approximately six billion people (or 74% of the world’s population) live under authoritarian rule. Only 29 countries qualify as liberal democracies, a clear indicator that we are in the midst of a worldwide democratic backslide.The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Freedom House have reached a similar conclusion. This a far cry from the 1990s, when Francis Fukuyama convinced the world that liberal democracy had emerged as the final, evolved form of government. The most distressing case in the current environment is India, once regarded as the putative beacon of democracy and ‘the land of the Mahatma.’The foundations of Indian democracy have been steadily weakened through the appointment of ideologically-aligned judges, a media landscape commandeered using coercion, corporate consolidation, a bureaucracy conditioned to comply in exchange for upward mobility and career security, beguiling the public while disproportionately benefiting a select class of society and the placement of loyalists across governmental, educational and cultural institutions, leading to an enduring ‘saffron-isation’ of public life.Power through polarisation has become the ruling mantra. Particularly unnerving is the active fostering of schisms between Hindu and Muslim, through the abrogation of Article 370, the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and anti-conversion laws. A fervent religious nationalism has taken the country captive, one that increasingly demonises Muslim, and to a lesser extent Christian, communities as adversaries. Presiding over this calculated disruption of social solidarity is Modi, who has cultivated a carefully managed public image, with PR spinmeisters projecting him as a decisive, visionary leader who can do no wrong. he commands genuine devotion among his legion of followers. Successive India Today polls have rated him as the most popular prime minister. International rating firms like Morning Consult placed him as the most popular leader worldwide, with an approval rating of 68% as of early 2026. Modi’s popularity is not entirely surprising given the unparalleled hype and scale of messaging apparatus built around him. People are so besotted with his persona that he has weathered the demonetisation crisis, the catastrophic handling of COVID-19 pandemic, and a public debt that has grown from Rs 55 lakh crore in 2014 to over Rs 200 lakh crore today. He persuaded people in such a way that free rations and public welfare scheme were personal gifts, making them believe he stopped the Russia-Ukraine war to evacuate Indians from the war zone through exaggerated political advertisements. Rahul Gandhi’s description of him as a “jaadugar” (magician) is not without basis. His brazen and deceitful framing of the aborted Women’s Reservation Bill, as his ‘noble’ attempt to empower women against the hostile resistance of opposition, demeans our intelligence but has widely worked. His manoeuvring of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise before state assembly polls has helped him win the hitherto elusive West Bengal. Thus, the last 12 years have been a chilling tragicomedy, emphasising the gullibility of the Indian public. More recently, however, Modi’s image of invincibility has shown cracks. He has been seen yielding to Trump on trade terms popularly regarded as unfavourable, at the expense of our farmers and workers in apparel, footwear, and precious stone industries. His compliance with Trump’s demands to reduce purchases of Russian and Iranian oil has drawn criticism even from within the Sangh Parivar. Ram Madhav raised the issue at a recent “New India Conference” in Washington, a move widely read as an implicit rebuke of the government.India is paying the price for Modi’s personal derelictions. Despite China’s longstanding territorial incursions, India has moved towards warmer ties with Beijing, easing trade and FDI restrictions, resulting in a trade deficit of a whopping $ 116 billion. Meanwhile, it is Pakistan, not India, that has emerged as a key interlocutor in the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran, which some are referring to as the greatest international crisis since the Second World War.On the economic front, Modi is being exposed on other counts. His claim of elevating India to the world’s fourth-largest economy has been contradicted by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook, which places India sixth. Also read: Far From Being the ‘Fourth Largest,’ India Slips to Number Six on Global GDP RankingsMore than anything else, it is the skeletons in Modi’s cupboard, long shielded by a compliant judiciary and a largely deferential media, that may ultimately vanquish him. The Epstein files controversy has exposed close associates like Anil Ambani and Hardeep Puri, and has been said to have named Modi himself. Adding to this discomfiture is assault on conduct by two former allies. Whether the time has come for retributive justice is yet to be seen. Mathew John is a former civil servant. The views expressed are personal.