PM Modi, Mamata Banerjee, Adar Poonawalla on Time’s ‘100 most influential’

NEW YORK (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla have been named among the world’s 100 most influential people of 2021 by Time magazine. The magazine on Wednesday, April 15, unveiled its annual list of ‘The 100 Most Influential People of 2021’, a global list that includes US President Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan, former US president Donald Trump and co-founder of the Taliban Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Time’s profile of Modi says India has had three pivotal leaders — Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Modi. “Narendra Modi is the third, dominating the country’s politics like no one since them.” The profile by CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria accuses the 69-year-old leader of “eroding the rights” of India’s Muslim minority and intimidating journalists. It describes Mamata Banerjee as the face of fierceness in Indian politics. “The street-fighter spirit and self-made life in a patriarchal culture sets her apart,” the profile says. Poonawalla’s Time profile says that from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 40-year-old head of the world’s largest vaccine maker “sought to meet the moment.” About Taliban co-founder Baradar, it says: “Baradar represents a more moderate current within the Taliban.”