Ashok Malik, a popular Indian columnist who has written extensively about Mr. Modi, called it “scaremongering.” When B.J.P. last took power, more than a decade ago, he said, “the cultural warriors got very excited about history textbooks, which, unfortunately, are written by the state.” But he said the party’s current leaders — among them Mr. Modi — “believe that debate is over,” and are focused on goals that matter more to B.J.P.'s target voters, like building capacity in the higher education system.

“His mandate is an economic mandate, and he has to be true to that mandate,” Mr. Malik said. “Twenty or 30 years ago, Modi may have believed a lot of those things to different degrees, but Modi’s experience as a chief minister for the last 12 years, especially in a state like Gujarat, has proven an enormous learning process for him.”

He added, “Modi may, in his heart of hearts, be a cultural warrior, but if it’s not germane to his political appeal today, he’s going to be practical.”

There is little dispute that India’s reputation for tolerance is fraying. Ms. Doniger’s book is only the most recent to be withdrawn when a publisher faced the threat of costly litigation.

In January, Bloomsbury India withdrew copies of “The Descent of Air India” against its author’s wishes, and published an apology to a Congress-allied government minister who came in for heavy criticism in the book. In December, the Kolkata High Court granted a stay of publication of “Sahara: The Untold Story,” an investigation of the Indian finance and real estate conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar, until a lawsuit filed by Sahara Group’s chairmain was resolved.

After a decade in power, the Congress party bears much responsibility for this decline, said Nilanjana S. Roy, a journalist and literary critic. “The Congress and the left way of chilling free speech was by and large to tangle people up in legal battles, and to withdraw or not offer support,” she said. “The Hindutva right wing is closer to other religious fundamentalists in the sense that the attempt is to drown out other people’s voices, sometimes with the use of aggression, abuse or even direct threats.”

The partisan clamor has increased in volume as elections approach, sometimes crossing a line into bullying. Mr. Modi’s supporters are especially aggressive on social media; Karuna Nundy, a lawyer at India’s Supreme Court, said that after one Twitter posting she received 200 responses that included physical threats to her and her family.