The word revolution is often thrown around casually. Let’s extend that lexical liberty. First, take the ‘forcible’ and ‘overthrow’ part out from the dictionary meaning. Now stretch what remains so that it can cover an existing regime’s manoeuvres to extend its durability and appeal. Implausible though it may sound, what happened on June 7 in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan was that sort of revolution.
Of course it was top down—grand gestures to signal the final dismantling of the old order. Narendra Modi likes to do things with a big bang. The scale is an important element in his thinking. Shake up the system—or replace it. Make everyone feel the impact. There are Cabinet expansions and Cabinet expansions—this one was a Sardar Patel statue among them, dwarfing all else. No other Indian PM has attempted something like this.