Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal have made it to TIME ’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people along with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy.
While Mr. Modi figures in the category of “leaders”, Mr. Kejriwal is listed among the “pioneers” and Ms. Roy makes the grade among “icons” in the annual list released Thursday after an online poll of readers.
Mr. Modi is described as “the divisive politician poised to lead the world’s largest democracy” in a profile by Fareed Zakaria, the Indian-American host on CNN.
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“Elections are reactions, often negative reactions. That is surely the explanation for the breathtaking rise of Narendra Modi, who ‘if the opinion polls are accurate’ is poised to become India’s next Prime Minister,” he writes.
“Modi has a reputation for quick action, encouraging the private sector, and good governance. He also has a reputation for autocratic rule and a dark Hindu-nationalist streak,” he said. “But those concerns are waning in a country desperate for change.”
Mr. Kejriwal, listed among pioneers, is described as a “powerful outsider in Indian politics” by Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of the IBN18 Network.
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“Kejriwal is the antithesis of the modern-day Indian politician. He’s no Hindu nationalist, he doesn’t have a famous surname, and no, there is no evidence that he has made money from politics,” Mr. Sardesai wrote.
Among the icons, Ms. Roy makes it as “the novelist who is the conscience of India”.
In a profile, author Pankaj Mishra says: “More remarkably, Roy’s subsequent non-fictional engagement with the conflicts and traumas of a heedlessly globalised world has manifested the virtues of an unflinching emotional as well as political intelligence.”