Notion That India Turned Authoritarian Under BJP Total Bulls**t: Ex-Australian PM Abbott

Last Updated:March 13, 2026, 12:33 IST

Abbott made the remarks while reflecting on his experience at the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship global conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, held annually in New Delhi.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott dismissed claims that India has become an authoritarian state under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calling the argument “total bullsh*t".

Abbott made the remarks while reflecting on his experience at the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship global conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, held annually in New Delhi.

The forum, he said, stands out among international gatherings for encouraging open debate rather than serving as an exercise in deference to the host government.

“And as for this notion that India, under the BJP, has somehow become an authoritarian state, that’s total BS. No country with free and fair elections, a riotously free media, and a robustly independent judiciary is in serious danger of dictatorship," he said.

“And no dictatorship would host a global conference where nothing is off-limits and no one is shouted down. This year’s dialogue, after all, heard from both the Israeli foreign minister (virtually) and the Iranian deputy foreign minister," he added.

Describing the Dialogue as the brainchild of India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Abbott said it brings together political leaders, senior military officials, business figures, journalists and policy experts to debate major global issues.

While there is a strong focus on the “Global South", he noted that discussions are grounded in realism, with an emphasis on power, economic strength and practical outcomes rather than rhetoric.

Abbott said Jaishankar’s approach at the forum reflects this ethos, pointing out that the minister regularly attends multiple sessions, sometimes as a speaker and often simply as a participant in the audience.

Despite his distinguished diplomatic career, Abbott said Jaishankar engages without condescension and listens as much as he speaks.

He also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for setting the tone at the conference by attending the opening session each year to listen to the chief guest, this year the President of Finland, without delivering a speech himself.

Abbott said this willingness to listen, even after more than a decade in power, runs counter to claims of authoritarianism and reflects restraint rather than hubris.

The Raisina Dialogue, organised by the Observer Research Foundation in partnership with India’s Ministry of External Affairs, has been held annually since 2016 and is widely regarded as the country’s premier platform for discussions on international security, economics and global governance.

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