As an Indian living in India, let me add some context to leaven the doom and gloom.

1. India is a parliamentary democracy - thank god! This means that anyone can start a political party, contest elections, and represent their base in parliament.

Why is this important?
This means that coalition governments are more common than not. Over the past thirty odd years, since 1989-90, coalitions have run the country. They might be coalitions of expediency or ideology but nonetheless, the little guy gets a voice in government.

Due to this structure, it is difficult, probably not impossible, for a Prime Minister to become a Fuehrer like figure. There aren’t many examples of parliamentary democracies descending into full blown authoritarianism - Israel/Netanyahu tried but faced a ton of headwind. Eritrea/Ethiopia maybe but that’s pretty much it.

2. Deep down, Indians are repulsed by sectarian strife. In 1984, Hindus, protected by the Indian National Congress massacred Sikhs. And that was also the last time the INC came to power on its own strength as a single party. In 2002, Narendra Modi twiddled his thumbs as thousands of Muslims were killed by Hindus in response to a targeted mass killing. His party immediately lost the next general election in 2003 they were tipped to win. He himself is in power now, having been re-elected twice, but under the slogan of “prosperity for everyone” and not hardline hindutva (militant/overt Hinduism). He has tried his best to undermine Indian democracy so he’s no saint, for sure, but headline hindutva plays much better in areas which are already his political base - north India - but won’t win him support elsewhere.

Sectarian strife in India, to put lipstick on a pig, is like fighting between brothers. We may fight and kill each other but only to settle old scores, not to uproot the other from the subcontinent. Small consolation for the people who lose life and limb in such strife I know but that’s the truth of it.