Modi govt's dwindling intellectual capital explains its fading momentum

This is why a second term, which looked a certainty a year ago, now seems IFFY, in all capital letters

Let’s set it up with three questions. Is the Narendra Modi government talent-averse? Second, if so, is this the most talent-averse leadership in seven decades? And third, does it really matter, for Mr Modi, BJP, and the voter?

The answer to the first and the second is “yes”. The third, we can then debate once the basic postulates are established. 

First, the cabinet. You can understand it being largely inexperienced. The BJP had been out of power for 10 years and most of Vajpayee’s cabinet colleagues were a bit old and consigned to the “Margdarshak Mandal”. The younger ones, like