To Kill a Democracy: India's Passage to Despotism is a book authored by Debasish Roy Chowdhury and John Keane, published by Oxford University Press in 2021.

[7] The book talks about the 1973 landmark Kesavananda Bharati judgment of the Supreme Court of India which outlined the 'basic structure' doctrine of the Indian Constitution.

The social injustices, restrictions and struggle for livelihood make the government more powerful and greatly affect the meaning of elections for Indians.

[9] In April 2021, Oxford University Press had planned to release a low-priced Indian edition of the book in the first week of July.

In September, after waiting for three months, the authors publicly questioned OUP on social media about the delay in the launch of the Indian edition of the book.

[10] On 30 September 2021, The Telegraph quoted a spokesperson for Oxford University Press, that its "sales team felt the content to be provocative".

"[11] On 30 May Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)[a] through its mouthpiece magazine attacked Debasish Roy Chowdhury for writing the article and the book.

Sinha inferred that Roy Chowdhury's article on India's COVID vaccination had led to the criticism of the book and subsequent denial of publication.

[9] Sarbari Sinha wrote in Frontline magazine that the authors "reject the more comforting option of blaming the current dispensation for the way democracy has been unravelling in India and locate the causes in systemic issues.

The narrative is backed up by statistics and brought alive by real-life stories, showing the rigour of academic scholarship and the curiosity that informs the best of journalism.