US President Barak Obama Writes an Article on PM Modi in Time’s Magazine, Calls Him ‘India’s Reformer-in-Chief’
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi features on Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people with an article on him titled, “India’s reformer-in-chief.” Byline, Barack Obama.President Obama describes PM Modi’s journey “from poverty to Prime Minister” as one that reflects the dynamism and potential of India’s rise.“Today, he’s the leader of the world’s largest democracy, and his life story from poverty to Prime Minister reflects the dynamism and potential of India’s rise,” Obama said.
“As a boy, Narendra Modi helped his father sell tea to support their family. Today, he’s the leader of the world’s largest democracy, and his life story — from poverty to Prime Minister — reflects the dynamism and potential of India’s rise.” Thus begins US President Barack Obama’s brief but eloquent write-up on India’s prime minister, one of the four Indians in the 2015 edition of TIME 100, the publication’s annual list of the 100 most influential people. The outgoing US President himself is on the list.
In the write-up headlined ‘India’s reformer-in-chief’, Obama also refers to Modi’s visit to the US: “When he came to Washington, Narendra and I visited the memorial to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. We reflected on the teachings of King and Gandhi and how the diversity of backgrounds and faiths in our countries is a strength we have to protect. Prime Minister Modi recognises that more than one billion Indians living and succeeding together can be an inspiring model for the world.”
“We reflected on the teachings of King and Gandhi and how the diversity of backgrounds and faiths in our countries is a strength we have to protect. Prime Minister Modi recognises that more than 1 billion Indians living and succeeding together can be an inspiring model for the world,” writes President Obama, who was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January this year, the first American president to be so.
Mr. Obama recalled Mr. Modi’s visit to Washington last year when both the leaders visited the memorial to Dr Martin Luther King Junior, an American civil rights activist.
“The list is not a ranking of any kind. It is about individual influence from various backgrounds and how these people are doing different things that are having all kinds of impact, both positive and negative,” says Nikhil Kumar, TIME’s South Asia bureau chief.
Apart from Modi, ICICI Chief Chanda Kochchar and Vikram Patel, co-founder of the NGO Sangath and the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, have also been named to the annual list of the most influential people in the world “who are shaping the future.”
Here’s the full text of the article in TIME’s latest issue:
“INDIA’S REFORMER-IN-CHIEF
As a boy, Narendra Modi helped his father sell tea to support their family. Today, he’s the leader of the world’s largest democracy, and his life story-from poverty to Prime Minister-reflects the dynamism and potential of India’s rise.
Determined to help more Indians follow in his path, he’s laid out an ambitious vision to reduce extreme poverty, improve education, empower women and girls and unleash India’s true economic potential while confronting climate change. Like India, he transcends the ancient and the modern-a devotee of yoga who connects with Indian citizens on Twitter and imagines a “digital India.”
When he came to Washington, Narendra and I visited the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We reflected on the teachings of King and Gandhi and how the diversity of backgrounds and faiths in our countries is a strength we have to protect. Prime Minister Modi recognizes that more than 1 billion Indians living and succeeding together can be an inspiring model for the world.”
Like Obama, the US magazine also approached other renowned personalities to profile the 99 others in its list of 100 most influential people of 2015. TIME had on Tuesday released another list of the world’s 100 most influential people, based on a readers’ poll conducted by the magazine. While that list also had Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the one released on Thursday and compiled by TIME’s editors had only four people from India. Both Modi and Kejriwal were part of last year’s list, too.