Kejriwal on Fortune's list of '50 greatest leaders', PM Modi conspicuous by his absence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi can still claim the sort of international recognition which has seldom been bestowed upon Indian leaders before him

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has finally gotten a leg up on his political bête noire Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kejriwal has been ranked 42nd on Fortune magazine's third annual 'World's 50 Greatest Leaders' list — a list which does not include Modi's name.

Fortune's list features men and women from across the globe from the fields of business, government, philanthropy and the arts who are "transforming the world and inspiring others to do the same".

So far, Modi has been featured on several prominent lists of world leaders and influential personalities. Also, earlier this month, world famous wax museum Madame Tussauds announced that they would be featuring a wax figure of the prime minister. 

 

For some of Modi's colleagues and fellow party members, who have have taken to flaunting the prime minister's popularity, this might come as a shock. Earlier this month, during the Bhartiya Janta Party's (BJP's) national executive meeting, senior BJP leader and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had sung paeans in Modi's name and said, "Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi made it to Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in 2015 and now this year 30.” 

Kejriwal, who is the only Indian leader on the Fortune list, was selected for his efforts towards curbing air pollution in Delhi and his government's 'odd-even' road-space rationing scheme. 

Other South Asian leaders on the list include Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Modi, for his part, can still claim the sort of international recognition which has seldom been bestowed upon Indian leaders before him. 

Last November, Modi was ranked as the world's ninth most powerful person by Forbes magazine in its 2015 list. The year before that, Modi was placed 14th on the same list. 

Earlier this month, Modi was featured on the Time's 'The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet' list second year in a row.  

Describing the social media savvy leader, Time said, "The Indian Prime Minister has roughly 38 million total followers on Twitter and Facebook, more than any other leader in the world except President Obama."

Modi's name had also found a place in Time's 'The 100 Most Influential People' list for 2015.

US President Barack Obama's brief but eloquent write-up on Modi, featured by Time along with the list, 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.”  

While supporters of the prime minister might see Modi's conspicuous absence from Fortune's list as a snub, Modi's popularity among such publications is yet to dwindle. In fact, the Indian Express reported on Thursday that Modi is among the "probable contenders" named by Time magazine for its 2016 list of the most influential people in the world.

Indians who made the cut and the top 5 ranked persons 

Time's 'The 100 Most Influential People' list (2015)*	Time's 'The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet' list (2016)*	Forbes' 'The World's Most Powerful People' list (2015)	Fortune's 'World's 50 Greatest Leaders' list (2016)
Name: Narendra Modi Designation: Prime Minister of India	Name: Narendra Modi Designation: Prime Minister of India	Name: Vladimir Putin Rank: 1 Designation: President of Russia	Name: Jeff Bezos Rank: 1 Designation: Chief Executive Officer of Amazon
Name: Chanda Kochhar Designation: Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank Limited		Name: Angela Merkel Rank: 2 Designation: Chancellor of Germany	Name: Angela Merkel Rank: 2 Designation: Chancellor of Germany
Name: Satya Nadella Designation: Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft		Name: Barack Obama Rank: 3  Designation: President of the United States	Name: Aung San Suu Kyi Rank: 3 Designation: Burmese politician and President of Myanmar's National League for Democracy party
Name: Vikram Patel Designation: Jt Director, Public Health Foundation of India, and Professor, London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine		Name: Pope Francis Rank: 4 Designation: Pope of the Roman Catholic Church	Name: Pope Francis Rank: 4 Designation: Pope of the Roman Catholic Church
		Name: Xi Jinping Rank: 5 Designation: General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the People's Republic of China	Name: Tim Cook Rank:5 Designation: Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc
		Name: Narendra Modi Rank: 9  Designation: Prime Minister of India	Name: Arvind Kejriwal Rank: 42 Designation: Chief Minister of Delhi
		Name: Mukesh Ambani Rank: 36 Designation: Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited
		Name: Lakshmi Mittal Rank: 55 Designation: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ArcelorMittal
		Name: Satya Nadella Rank: 61 Designation: Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft

Table showing Indians who have made it to recognised global lists (Source: Forbes, Fortune, Time) 

*Time lists are unranked lists