“Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus”, one Roman had lamented to another in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. What was true of Rome — a leader in the shape of a colossus — need not be anachronistic to a democracy. India’s prime minister does stride upon the political stage like a giant. Narendra Modi also makes it a point to remind the nation of his stature through his remarks. Consider two of his recent statements in two poll-bound states. In Himachal Pradesh, Mr Modi urged that there is no need to consider the local candidates: every vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party was, in effect, a vote for ‘Modi’. In Gujarat, his roar was even shriller. Mr Modi has declared — and the BJP has adopted the theme as its slogan — that the state, to put it in one way, was his own creation. Of course, these utterances are necessitated by political logic. Mr Modi is undoubtedly the BJP’s tallest leader. The party relies on him to see it through tough electoral tests: the undercurrents in Himachal and Gujarat have apparently caused the BJP some jitters. Nonetheless, it is strange to see the BJP, which crows about the lack of inner democracy in the Congress, its principal rival, curl up snugly under Mr Modi’s imposing shadow.

The larger question, however, is the changing nature of the relationship between democracy and leviathans. Despite its robust democratic framework, India, curiously, has been rather accommodating of the personality cult in politics. The Congress, in its heyday, rode political storms astride the Gandhis. Several regional parties have unitary power structures revolving around a solitary leader. But what is singular about Mr Modi’s India is the foisting of the Great Leader upon the nation has been accompanied by a corresponding weakening of the checks and balances on the personality cult. It would not be an exaggeration to state that Indian democracy and its vanguard institutions are rather enamoured of the phenomenon called Mr Modi. Alarmingly, the world is treading a similar path. The rise of populist strongmen is not unique to India: Turkey, Hungary, Israel, Brazil, the United States of America have all been scarred. In fact, there is reason to argue that the dawn of the age of the political colossus is indicative of a transitional phase in which democracies are evolving into illiberal regimes. Mr Modi’s bluster may sound pompous. But it is a reflection of the times.