Who is Guruji modelled on? Tavleen Singh, veteran journalist and Indian Express columnist, sidestepped the question through much of the launch of her debut novel, The Actor, at the India International Centre on Wednesday evening.

In the book, Guruji is a ruthless theocrat who rules a near-future India as its four-time Prime Minister. Singh was in discussion with Najeeb Jung, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Asked if Guruji was modelled on Prime Minister Modi, Singh disagreed. Guruji, she said, was “a kind of warning” of where India ends up “if we continue to have a society that becomes less and less liberal and less and less pluralistic.”

She did, however, name other inspirations. Naresh Khanna, the MP who lures a fading Bollywood star into a new secular party, is “very loosely modelled” on Prashant Kishor, founder of Bihar’s Jan Suraaj party.…