Modi, the mask, ideology

Modi broke the hypocrisy of softening ideology once in power. Does he still need it electorally as his almighty personality cult overshadows it?

One more round of elections is over and we can future-gaze. Let’s begin with a question we raised in a National Interest exactly three months after Narendra Modi had been sworn in as prime minister in 2014: Have you ever seen a political leader who resembles his mask as much as Mr Modi does?

It wasn’t just a rhetorical question. On the other hand, it made a substantive argument about his politics and ideology: That the man you see is the man you get. We had seen ideological leaders, or those representing various ideologies, in power in the past. They