A long-term observer and analyst of the Indian political scene takes a hard look at the Narendra Modi phenomenon. S. Nihal Singh believes that the rise of Modi marks a sharp break from more than six decades of political consensus. While Atal Behari Vajpayee's six years of power at the head of a coalition government were broadly in line with Nehruvian philosophy except for teasing the fringes, the emergence of Modi as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party represents a significant shift in the working of the polity of the world's largest democracy. In essence, Modi and his mentor, the...