India, Oct. 23 -- This year, the US is celebrating 250 years since its Declaration of Independence. In October, India marked a very different but unusual milestone: 25 years since Narendra Modi first assumed executive office - first as chief minister (CM) of Gujarat and subsequently as Prime Minister (PM) of India.

Modi has spoken of his admiration for one of America's founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. In a conversation with former US president Barack Obama, he recalled Franklin's life with particular admiration - how a person from an ordinary background could transform his circumstances through effort, learning and enterprise, becoming a politician, diplomat, social reformer and thinker.

Perhaps what attracted PM Modi was Franklin's...