India, long considered the world’s largest democracy, slid down the democracy scale this month, with Freedom House classifying it as "partly free", and the V-Dem Institute calling it an "electoral autocracy" under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In this week’s UpFront, we challenge BJP spokesman Syed Zafar Islam on the government’s recent crackdowns on dissent.

And in the Arena, we discuss Lebanon's financial meltdown and political crisis with Kim Ghattas, an author and non-resident fellow at Carnegie Endowment and Dayna Ash, an activist and the executive director of Haven for Artists.

00:00 Intro
00:56 Headliner
13:53 Arena

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India, long considered the world’s largest democracy, slid down the democracy scale this month, with Freedom House classifying it as "partly free", and the V-Dem Institute calling it an "electoral autocracy" under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In this week’s UpFront, we challenge BJP spokesman Syed Zafar Islam on the government’s recent crackdowns on dissent. And in the Arena, we discuss Lebanon's financial meltdown and political crisis with Kim Ghattas, an author and non-resident fellow at Carnegie Endowment and Dayna Ash, an activist and the executive director of Haven for Artists. 00:00 Intro 00:56 Headliner 13:53 Arena - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

With the thrust and parry of rigorous debate, Mehdi Hasan cuts through the headlines to challenge conventional wisdom, highlight contradictions and uncover double standards.

UpFront

Through rigorous debate, Marc Lamont Hill cuts through the headlines to challenge conventional wisdom.

Through rigorous debate, Marc Lamont Hill cuts through the headlines to challenge conventional wisdom.