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As a political doctrine, democracy is relatively new in India. Yet, its most forceful articulation is inevitably driven by the most primeval of passions-hate. Whether it is hatred of the amorphous "other" or the hatred of an individual, demonology hasn't found a better substitute as an instrument of mobilisation.

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So it is with today's India. A political class traumatised by the bloody expressions of visceral hate in the Mahatma's native Gujarat has now fallen back on counter-hate to expiate its soul. The first target of mass fury was an entire community in Gujarat that was made to pay for the misdeeds of extremist co-religionists in Godhra. The retaliation has been more sanitised but no less hate-driven. And it has centred on one individual-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Since the beginning of March, Indian politics has witnessed an upheaval of cyclonic proportions over this man. From genteel drawing-room conversations to boisterous street protests, politics has been reduced to a single issue: the continuation or resignation of Modi. The 51-year-old RSS pracharak who was catapulted into the hot seat in Gandhinagar last October, has effected the biggest polarisation since the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.

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"Think of India's prestige and honour which are at stake." N. Chandrababu Naidu Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister

To his manifold detractors who have captured the headlines for the past four weeks, Modi is the epitome of everything evil and loathsome. He has been called "mass murderer" and "fascist" and compared to Adolf Hitler, Nathuram Godse and Ariel Sharon. The pugnacious Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad Yadav petitioned the President calling for Modi's arrest under the newly enacted POTA. A prominent English language newspaper carried the headline "Dial M for Modi, Murder". A "fact finding by a women's panel", sponsored by an Ahmedabad body, argued that what happened in Gujarat after the Godhra incident "clearly indicates genocide" with state complicity and was, therefore, justiciable in the International Court of Justice. Modi, by implication, is India's Slobodan Milosevic-the Serbian leader now on trial for crimes against humanity.

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TERMS OF EMBITTERMENT The Modi notoriety continues to evoke extreme comparisons terms of embitterment "Modi should be arrested under POTA for sponsoring terrorism." Syed Ahmed Bukhari Shahi Imam, Delhi Jama Masjid "He is the modern Nathuram Godse." Arjun Singh Congress leader "Modi would like his Muslim community to disappear though it's not clear where he expects them to go." A report in the Guardian, London "Modi has successfully promoted himself to the ranks of Milosevic and Karadzic." A letter in Arab News "... Modi should receive the Pol Pot Award for humanitarianism." Shiv Vishvanathan Sociologist "Modi has donned the role of a goonda." Shankaracharya Ashokshjanand Tirthji Maharaj of Puri

Nor were the voices of indignation limited to the charmed circle of professional activists. Some business leaders-usually fanatically circumspect in matters political-chipped in with their denunciation of a chief minister who was perceived as being part of the problem. "What is a government elected for?" asked HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh publicly. "If they cannot protect innocent lives, then they should go." Parekh may have been among the few who spoke out but so charged is the atmosphere that a leading business daily taunted India Inc-which preferred discretion and silence-with having developed laryngitis. The bureaucracy too was drawn into battle, with Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Harsh Mander resigning from service-he was on deputation to an NGO-after baring his conscience in a widely-circulated e-mail about Gujarat.

Not since Indian opinion-makers belatedly woke up to former prime minister Indira Gandhi's assault on democracy (after she was defeated in the 1977 election) has the fountain of indignation and outrage spouted so fiercely. In the sound-bite war fought in the media and across cyberspace, Modi has been conclusively and unequivocally worsted. In the eyes of the traditional Indian establishment-at times indistinguishable from the chattering classes-he stands condemned. In the words of heretical Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Pritish Nandy, a "despicable criminal".

Judging by the magnitude of outrage, Modi should have been reduced to the status of fugitive Mullah Omar cowering for cover in some god-forsaken shakha. Yet, Modi persists defiantly, his position endorsed with gusto by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP and even the ruling NDA. His friends in the BJP, those who pushed his case as the successor to Keshubhai Patel, have stood by him unflinchingly. He has emerged as the unquestioned leader of the Gujarat BJP and been supported by erstwhile detractors like former chief minister Patel and BJP General Secretary Sanjay Joshi.

Unacceptable as it may be to his anguished critics, he has become the latest poster boy of the counter-establishment and a veritable hero for many in Gujarat. He has even acquired a new label-Chhote Sardar-and been anointed inheritor to the mantle of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man who was independent India's first home minister. Without any fanfare, prominent Hindu religious leaders-including the heads of prominent Hindu orders-have conducted pujas for his well-being and proffered words of encouragement. The venerable Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Jayendra Saraswati, has even given him a public certificate: "Modi is doing his best to restore normalcy." "Some people," rues Bal Apte, BJP Rajya Sabha member and acknowledged guru of the party's Young Turks, "simply want Gujarat to simmer. Therefore, the present peace and measures for peace are ignored."

The charge of selective indignation resonates through Gujarat. Modi may seem to be popular but how real is this support can only be tested in an election. If Modi and his BJP MLAs had had their way, this would have happened by June. Unfortunately for them, the political battle in the rest of the country has ruled this out. Modi's opponents don't want to join battle yet, at least not until passions subside and a more enduring peace returns to Gujarat.

For the moment, Modi has no choice but to live out the storm. Whether he or, for that matter, Vajpayee can successfully negotiate their way out depends on other imponderables. But regardless of the outcome, the Modi effect has shattered the phoney war of the past two years. One man in Gujarat has redrawn the faultlines of politics. Its consequences will be felt for a long time.