India, Aug. 27 -- Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh is rewriting its economic story through fiscal discipline, infrastructure investment and improved law and order, emerging as a major economic force while challenging the long-held belief that fiscal prudence belongs mainly to India's southern and western States

In Indian politics, Yogi Adityanath is filed under a single heading: law and order. The saffron robes, the bulldozers, the pursuit of criminal syndicates that at their peak rivalled terror outfits in menace. It is a caricature that suits admirers and critics alike, and it obscures the more consequential story unfolding in Uttar Pradesh. Over nearly a decade in office, the monk has quietly become one of the country's most discipline...