At a time when a Gujarati politician is being closely watched and predictions are being made on how much of a mark he will leave on the national stage, it should be interesting to analyse the unique ethos that has been known to prevail in his home state.

A historically mercantile culture, widespread influence of Jainism, diluted casteism and an intrinsic irreverence makes society and polity in Gujarat different from other Indian states. Centre-right in their economic leaning, people here naturally gravitate towards leaner governments with high standards of governance. This means that while on the one hand the audience at a Gandhinagar rally is more appreciative of an irreverent political speech—irrespective of which side of the political divide it comes from—citizens here have a much lower threshold as regards terrorism compared to other states, especially in the country’s Hindi belt, where a more chalta hai attitude prevails.

To understand the Gujarati, we need to study in depth what is probably their most dominant influence: mercantilism. A...