India, Sept. 12 -- On October 7, 2001, Narendra Modi took oath as Chief Minister of Gujarat at a moment when the state was still carrying the scars of a devastating earthquake, successive droughts and political uncertainty. He entered government not through the conventional apprenticeship of power, but from a life spent in organisation and public work. His mother, as he has often recalled, gave him two simple instructions: always work for the poor and never take a bribe. Twenty-five years later, that moment offers a useful starting point to understand a political journey that has altered the scale and vocabulary of governance in India. Among its most consequential dimensions has been the steady placing of young Indians at the centre of th...