It's not drastically more authoritarian than it ever was. Indian democracy has always had a strongly authoritarian streak legislatively. The key difference is that it is difficult to unlock this level of authoritarianism unless you have a supermajority in Parliament, which basically didn't happen from the early 1990s-2016. 2016-Present is a re-repeat of the 1970s-1989, but with less guns.
That said, the end of the BJP majority is near. Traditionally strongly BJP states have started voting for regional parties or opposition national parties (though tbf those parties have also started embracing the Development+Hinduvta+Freebies model BJP leveraged in 2019). You know the BJP High Command is worrying when Modi gave a speech 2 days ago to the party leadership about the need to build a dedicated campaign to lure Pasmanda (OBC/lower caste Muslims) in the same way Modi leveraged OBC Hindu votes in 2012. That will cause the grand coalition within the BJP between the Janta Party types and the RSS types to start fracturing.
That said, the end of the BJP majority is near. Traditionally strongly BJP states have started voting for regional parties or opposition national parties (though tbf those parties have also started embracing the Development+Hinduvta+Freebies model BJP leveraged in 2019). You know the BJP High Command is worrying when Modi gave a speech 2 days ago to the party leadership about the need to build a dedicated campaign to lure Pasmanda (OBC/lower caste Muslims) in the same way Modi leveraged OBC Hindu votes in 2012. That will cause the grand coalition within the BJP between the Janta Party types and the RSS types to start fracturing.