Sanjeev Sanyal maintains that since Narendra took office in May 2014, the world is seeing the "taming of India's elite." The prime minister was elected "on a promise to build a new India" - to ensure that its "entrenched elite" were no longer above the law. But will he be able to deliver - growth, skyscrapers, expressways, bullet trains, shopping malls etc. while closing the social and economic gaps between the rich and poor?

Sanyal's "tiny elite" make up of "a couple of hundred extended families, totaling perhaps 4,000-5,000 people" of haughty dynasts, who "control the top echelons in every sphere of public life: politics, business, the media, and even Bollywood." He does not include India's middle class, which probably totals some 70 million. According to a government report, as much as - perhaps - 77% of the entire population live on 50 cents a day and struggle to see their lot improve.

Modi exhorts a largely young supporters, who are upwardly mobile. In fact more than two-thirds of India's population is under the age of 35. There is a growing sense of discontent among them, who resent the old, corrupt establishment and seek to create a new political order, based on market economy. The author says Modi's government has been successful in dealing "blows to the old establishment," whose members have been able to enjoy perks and privileges, as well as to get away with impunity after committing crimes.

However Modi also rubs shoulders with India's financial elite. While he was chief minister of Gujarat, he forged ties with the most prominent businessmen and billionaires, who began to pave his ascent to power. Other celebrities and Bollywood stars fell at his feet and praised him as India's saviour. He will not be able to rein in income inequality and address the country's grievances. According to a report, some 43% of all Indian children below the age of five are undernourished, and 48% stunted; nearly half of Indian women of childbearing age are anaemic, and more than half of all Indians still defecate in the open.

That Modi's government has taken the Gandhis to court, does not necessarily mean that it combats graft and corruption. That "old elite can be investigated and questioned is /no doubt an/ undeniable progress in a country where they have long enjoyed impunity." Yet Sonia Gandhi and her son say Modi was using the legal battle as a vendetta against them, who had been accused of misusing party funds to illegally acquire real estate assets worth millions of dollars. Their shell company is said to control properties worth $300m. Modi had vowed a “Congress-free India” even before he crushed Rahul Gandhi in an election in 2014.

Indeed, it "remains to be seen .... whether Modi is able to cement these gains." There is much bitterness among the elite in India and they may retain "the power to strike back at the first sign of weakness."