COMMENT | Some 650 million voters recently expressed their will in the world’s largest-ever general elections. Narendra Modi, who had been chief minister of Gujarat for 13 years, and prime minister of India for 10 years, was no longer the invincible Superman that he and his political party, the BJP, held him out to be.

His dominance on the political firmament, first of the state of Gujarat, then of the union of India, throughout this century has been gravely dented.

Modi was boasting success in more than 400 seats...