India, June 10 -- Twelve years after Narendra Modi first took oath as Prime Minister, those who have watched him up close describe a leader driven by a singular obsession: securing India's rise and reshaping its place in the world. Prime Minister Modi's structured foreign policy knows no bounds. Executive Editor of Hindustan Times, Shishir Gupta, who has known Modi for over 25 years, paints a portrait of a workaholic strategist with unusual clarity of purpose, an uncompromising line on national security, and a tightly knit but formidable inner team.

Gupta's central characterisation of Modi is of a leader who effortlessly switches between the big picture and the ground reality. He describes a Prime Minister who can "see the lay of the lan...