India, June 15 -- As Narendra Modi completes twelve years as Prime Minister, assessments of his tenure naturally crowd the public discourse. Most analysts examine economic reforms, infrastructure growth, foreign policy and national security. Yet one of the most consequential transformations of this period remains underexamined: a fundamental reimagining of what social justice means in India.

For most of independent India's history, social justice was understood through a relatively narrow lens - reservations, representation and political participation. These were legitimate priorities in a society shaped by centuries of caste-based discrimination and exclusion. Over time, however, the discourse calcified into electoral arithmetic and ide...