A look at the top 10 most influential politicians in India
New Delhi,date of issue: June 5, 2023 , Updates: May 28, 2023 12:51 PM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi; (Illustration: Nilanjan Das)
PPolitics, as most of its practitioners would have us believe, is a tool for the wider public good. But often it is a no-holds-barred power game played without pretense. The past decade has certainly seemed so, with the BJP and its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), ruling India’s political landscape almost unquestionably. Two consecutive and massive Lok Sabha victories are just one indicator of this dominance. Not surprisingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his trusted lieutenant and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and RSS stalwarts – Mohan Bhagwat and Dattatreya Hosabale – occupy the top three spots in India Today’s political power list. He is followed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who holds the key to the BJP’s electoral fortunes in the state with the largest number of Lok Sabha seats (80). There are two more from the BJP in the top 10 – Union minister Nitin Gadkari, with his stupendous performance in expanding our highway network, and BJP president JP Nadda, who has taken party organization and election management skills to another level. With his successful Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has firmly established himself as Modi’s top challenger, following the party’s landslide victory in Karnataka. Supporting him in the power list are two other Chief Ministers – Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal and Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi. Both have prime ministerial ambitions and are seeking to expand their party’s wings beyond the home turf to garner national acceptance.