That 272-or-bust feeling: Modi is fighting to retain BJP's majority

Modi is a constant campaigner. His focus on the Congress may have looked over the top but there is a purpose to his excess

Reading Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s body language is a mug’s game. He is too consummate an artiste of the set-piece to leave things unsaid or undisplayed, between the lines or gestures. He is too well-rehearsed (in his mind) an orator to give you any slip-ups that betray what is “really” on his mind. And he is so much the constant campaigner that his speeches shortly after the big 2014 win had already begun sounding like he was back fighting again.

This is a short caution for those who read anxiety in his two speeches this week in both houses of