@t_co
I would imagine, Modi would be more assertive than be aggressive. Till the time he is being assertive, there shouldn't be much problem for any, for rationality reigns high then. The reason I say this, the work he and his associates have done in the state they govern has been pretty good considering the amount of hardships one would face right from bureaucracy to the man on the street, considering both are highly corrupt, with the former believing in creating more obstacles than solutions and the latter expecting miracles. Of the lot we have in India, he is definitely one of the better performers, results do speak for him, though, I wouldn't call him out as the best since the figures point at a few who have done better but are not as highlighted.
About the rhetoric, unfortunately the nature of politics in India is such that things get blown out of proportions, is based on divisions, highly emotive rhetoric and most importantly, the electorate in India is a pretty emotional lot, so if irrationality is doing rounds at a given time rather than correcting the tone of the dialogue, the politician more believes in going with the flow so Modi is not the lone criminal, also please consider, the media is very belligerent and anti-Modi, so even with all the figures talking in his favor, he and his team have had to resort to emotive rhetoric at times but then as we all know, the practical world is far different from all such rhetoric and all such talk is kept for public space, than for strategic circles, so I would like to feel, it will be practical and rational decisions that will take the lead.
I would like to highlight, when the BJP last came to govern, India was faced with Kandahar highjack, kargil war and a parliament attack, and the pointers of people carrying out terror attacks was all directed to Pakistani state actors, but still if ever there were the best of relations between India and Pakistan in the last 2 decades, it certainly was under the BJP. May I also mention, the only time India and the PRC came closer to resolving border disputes was again when the same BJP government was there. The last thing here, the foreign policy followed under the last BJP government does get highly rated and India overall then was able to make strong inroads across most important countries and don't forget the nuke explosions as a background which then had attracted heavy sanctions from all these nation states. One of the high points of that government was indeed their foreign policy.
All that is being said about Modi today, is exact the same that was being said about the BJP back in the 90s and history shows us a different side to them which is far more rational than that was portrayed.
The BJP compared to the Congress is more practical, decisive and sure footed, and Modi should be seen as one such example from the BJP.
Let me add, the opposition, the Congress I, has a lot to do with these articles surfacing in international journals, not so independent opinions one would expect to read.
There shouldn't be much problem that I can foresee here.