What does that even mean "can't trust itself" even mean?
But seriously, both China and India are very corrupt. The difference is that China's political power is centralized enough that they can effectively implement their economic agenda. Sure, people in India can vote for whatever government that they want. The problem is that most of the voters are uneducated poor people who have no idea what constitutes a good government. As a result, India's political scene is basically a @#$%&-flinging ideological clash characterized by religious and caste violence, terrorism, and various parts of the country trying to secede at any given time.
In this sort of environment, it's more effective (at least from an economic growth perspective) to have an elite ruling class that has the power to subjugate the uneducated poor to its will. Starvation in China was not so much of an issue as it is in India, since the Chinese government could unilaterally declare that everyone can only have one kid. Are peasants in China getting unruly because they're being used as cheap exploited labor for the government's growth agenda? It's not a problem, since the government can just send in the army to make an example of them. You can't pull this sh*t in India.
Both China and India have enormous growth potential due to their tremendous level of undeveloped human resources. However, China's government is in a better position to take advantage of these resources without the interference of random political variables. While, democracy is arguably good for economic development in rich countries, this is not a case in India, whose voters are mostly uneducated poor. Because of these reasons, China, not India, will be the next superpower.