July 17, 2016 | Meet the Journalist
Donate NowIndia's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made his reputation as a radical Hindu nationalist—so tainted by his association with anti-Muslim violence that he was denied a U.S. visa for a decade. But he was elected in 2014 as a visionary modernizer who promised to transform the economy, eradicate corruption, and turn India into a leading global power. His story for the New Yorker looks at the politics behind Modi's efforts to clean up the sacred river Ganges as a way of answering the question that continues to baffle observers of modern India: Who is the real Narendra Modi?