In the end, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), registered yet another victory in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. But it was the kind of victory where the winners were more relieved than overjoyed. And the losers were not despondent but encouraged.
Gujarat is Modi’s bastion. He made his reputation there as a charismatic chief minister with administrative skills and remains its favourite son, the most popular leader to emerge from the region in…