Maya Jasanoff

Ahmedabad is Modi’s power base: he settled there in his late teens and rose through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a fascist-inspired paramilitary organization, and its political ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.), both dedicated to Hindu nationalism, or Hindutva. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat in 2002, when anti-Muslim pogroms tore across the region, killing upward of a thousand people. But, before Ahmedabad was Modi’s headquarters, it was Mahatma Gandhi’s. From 19…