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The following excerpt is well worth consideration in light of the issues at stake in the United States:
“Why is authoritarianism not resisted more vigorously in India? …The first reason has to do with the fact that populists-turned authoritarians do nothing illegal at the start, and they adopt an incremental modus operandi. As Levitsky and Ziblatt have shown, ‘This is how democracies now die…Since the end of the Cold War, most democratic breakdowns have been caused not by generals and soldiers but by elected governments themselves.’ As they point out, ‘Often the assault on democracy begins slowly. For many citizens, it may, at first, be imperceptible. After all, elections continue to be held. Opposition politicians still sit in congress. Independent newspapers still circulate. The erosion of democracy takes place piecemeal, often in baby steps. Each individual step seems minor—none appear to truly threaten democracy. Indeed, government moves to subvert democracy frequently enjoy a veneer of legality: They are approved by parliament or ruled constitutional by the supreme court.’ In the initial phase of authoritarianism, only minorities are affected, be they religious minorities or activists (liberals, human rights activists, and so on). The majority is safe, and in India it often indulges in Hindu majoritarianism: most citizens have no reason to complain, as their lives have not changed at all.”

From Christophe Jaffrelot, Modi’s India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021), 460.