In what many are likely to consider high praise of the prime minister, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and the former governor of West Bengal has said, “In calendric terms, like Vikram Samvat this is Modi Samvat”.
Gandhi says that far more than Hindutva, the prime minister represents to the Indian people the sentiment “this is possible”. In a sense, Gandhi says that the prime minister is “a supremacist” i.e. he wants to make India supreme and he represents the belief that this this is possible.
In a 35-minute interview to discuss his forthcoming book The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India, Gandhi said of Modi: “His personality has made a mark which has to be respected and accepted by everybody.”
However, Gandhi maintained that the Prime Minister remains vulnerable and just as his popularity has grown phenomenally and quickly it can, equally fast, collapse and disappear. India, he said, is a country of “surprises”.
