Narendra Modi is and remains our most popular politician by far. The aura he had two years ago, he retains. Every opinion poll in the last years has shown his popularity at around 70 per cent.

This is what Americans call approval rating, and 70 per cent is an incredibly high number. Particularly because opinion polling in India has become accurate in the last decade so this number is believable.

Modi may be assisted by the fact that his rival Rahul Gandhi is not charismatic or competent, and that regional leaders like Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal do not have a large enough stage to project their talents.

But even with this admission, it must be accepted that Modi has a credibility with Indians as nobody else has.

The Bharatiya Janata Party lost state elections in Delhi and Bihar, but its march towards dominance and the Congress's march towards irrelevance continues under Modi.

Aakar Patel explains why the PM has been a success... so far. Read