India, Oct. 9 -- There are moments in public life that mark the beginning of a political journey, and there are moments that, with the passage of time, acquire a meaning much larger than the moment itself. October 7, 2001, was one such moment. When Narendra Modi took oath as Gujarat chief minister (CM), few could have known that the beginning of a state-level political chapter would eventually become part of a 25-year journey at the centre of India's political and administrative life.

The scale of responsibility changed in 2014, when that Gujarat experience moved to the national stage. The significance of these 25 years, therefore, lies in the continuity of the governing question: How does the State convert aspiration into something a ci...