India’s modernized central bank can’t do everything — and lately it has seemed that the rest of the government can’t do anything. The ruling United Progressive Alliance is mired in corruption scandals, with a leadership divided between an ineffective prime minister and an unaccountable Congress Party president.

Heightening the uncertainty is the rise of Narenda Modi, the charismatic leader of the main opposition — the pro-business, Hindu-nationalist, right-of-center Bharatiya Janata Party. Modi, chief minister of Gujarat (one of India’s most successful states), is an electrifying speaker and a hero to many business leaders. His followers can be fanatical — in both senses of the term. In the past, Modi has sided with anti-Muslim extremists. At the very least, he failed to prevent riots in 2002 that claimed more than 1,000 lives. The U.S. has revoked his visa as a result. India’s Central Bank and Narenda Modi