India, June 1 -- In his first speech after a mammoth electoral victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had summarised what could best define not just India's but the axis shift in world politics. "For years the Left had its ideology but we translated that into reality," he said with conviction. Justifiably so because he proved a theorem that is being borne out by the rest of the world, where the right-wing is drawing strength from all sections of people - hordes of ordinary people to be precise - to becoming a mainstream entity than just being a fringe benefit or aberration, depending on its tolerance or virulence. So the narrative is not about right-wing dominance but about right-wing populism.

In that sense, the Modi phenomenon is in con...