January 12, 2026

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DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES

ON May 7, 2025, days after a terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 civilians, India's decadelong recalibration of its security doctrine came into focus. Operation Sindoor, as the retaliatory air strikes were branded, targeted nine terror hubs across the border. By nightfall, Pakistan had responded with waves of drones and missiles, dragging the two nuclear-armed adversaries to the brink of escalation. Guns fell silent four days later, but new red lines had been drawn. Since 2015, New Delhi has sought to redraw the rules of deterrence on two fronts at once, against Pakistan to the west and China to the north, while quietly retooling the machinery of defence at home. The arc with Pakistan capturesthe shift most starkly. When Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover in Lahore in December 2015 to call on then prime minister Nawaz Sharif—months after the Pak premier had attended his swearing-in—it seemd that the deep freeze after the 2008 Mumbai attacks might thaw. Weeks later, the Pathankot airbase attack punctured that optimism. The September 2016 ambush on an Indian Army base at Uri proved the tipping point. India responded not with restraint or ritual condemnation, but with publicly acknowledged 'surgical strikes' on terror launchpads across the Line of Control. That logic hardened after the suicide bombing of a CRPF convoy at Pulwama in February 2019. The Balakot air strikes that followed—India's first across the international border since 1971— pushed escalation into new territory.

MASTERS OF THE GAME

There can scarcely be a better example of two minds thinking alike than Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. One supplies vision and charisma, the other reinforces it with strategy and execution. Together, they have transformed the Bharatiya Janata Party into the behemoth it is today: the world's largest political party, claiming a membership of 140 million. Yet size alone has not mattered. Modi-Shah have also instilled a rare work ethic in the organisation. This means unwavering focus on winning elections, be it for the Lok Sabha, a state assembly, or local bodies. Planning begins well in advance, and an entire phalanx dedicated to the task: from central ministers and general secretaries at the apex to panna pramukhs at the grassroots. Every aspect—campaign strategy, candidate selection, booth management—is meticulously calibrated, alongside constant outreach, a task made easier by the vast network of RSS cadre. Funds have never been a handicap either, as the BJP remains the top beneficiary of corporate donations to political parties first through ele c t or a l b ond s and now via electoral trusts. The pursuit of power is relentless, some would say even brutal. Opponents like Arvind Kejriwal can be cut down to size by embroiling them in corruption cases pursued by enforcement agencies; others can have charges dropped if they switch over to the BJP, a la Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra. Nor does ideology come in the way of importing leaders from other parties if they can advance the BJP cause: Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam, Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra or Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh. This year also saw the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, which many deem an exercise in voter exclusion aimed at helping the BJP. At the end of 2025, the BJP's dominance of the Hindi heartland—save Himachal and Chhattisgarh—is complete. In November, the NDA emphatically won Bihar, and now has its sights set firmly on Bengal. The coalition is now in power in 21 of India's 31 states/ UTs with legislatures, nearly double the 11 it governed in late 2014.