NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won thundering approval for his bold, risk-taking style of governance with his landslide March 11 victory in recent elections in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, where his Bharatiya Janata Party gained nearly four-fifths of the legislature's seats.
It has taken Modi fewer than three years in power in New Delhi to re-invent politics in India. Back in 2002, he was pilloried for turning a blind eye to sectarian riots in his native Gujarat, when he was the state's chief minister. The one-time provincial chief minister and former foot soldier of the BJP's parent, the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Modi has emerged as the country's most charismatic and powerful political leader in half a century.
