PM Modi, Mamata Banerjee In TIME’s 100 Most Influential People

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.

TIME on Wednesday unveiled its annual list of 'The 100 Most Influential People of 2021', and it said that in its 74 years as an independent nation, India has had three pivotal leaders – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and PM Modi. "Narendra Modi is the third, dominating the country's politics like no one since them."

The profile written by noted CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria alleges that PM Modi has "pushed the country away from secularism and toward Hindu nationalism."

It also accuses the 69-year-old leader of "eroding the rights" of India's Muslim minority and imprisoning and intimidating journalists.

On Ms. Banerjee, her profile for the 100 most influential list says that the 66-year-old leader "has become the face of fierceness in Indian politics."

"Of Banerjee, it is said, she doesn't lead her party, the Trinamool Congress – she is the party. The street-fighter spirit and self-made life in a patriarchal culture set her apart," the profile says.

Mr. Poonawalla's TIME profile says that from the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, the 40-year-old head of the world's largest vaccine maker "sought to meet the moment."

"The pandemic is not over yet, and Poonawalla could still help end it. Vaccine inequality is stark, and delayed immunisation in one part of the world can have global consequences-including the risk of more dangerous variants emerging," it says.