Journalism of Courage
After being the principal architect of a record win with 303 seats in the general elections, Narendra Modi’s imprimatur, in his second term as Prime Minister, touches all aspects of his party and government. A fragmented Opposition and his formidable popularity have only served to amplify his command and control.
Transforming the BJP into a successful election winning machine, Shah is now the most powerful minister in the Narendra Modi government. The decisions he has taken as minister have earned him the sobriquet of the new Iron Man in the internal circles of both the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS.
Son of former Assam chief minister the late Keshab Chandra Gogoi, Justice Gogoi was appointed Supreme Court judge in 2012. In January 2018, he was one of the four judges who held an unprecedented press conference raising questions on the allocation of cases to various benches in the apex court — which briefly cast a shadow on the chances of his elevation as CJI.
Under him, the RSS has helped the BJP grow in strength in successive elections. Bhagwat has also initiated steps to make the RSS re-invent itself, shifting its discourses from closed doors to open platforms. He had invited Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee to the RSS headquarters to address its volunteers last year.
The richest Indian’s oil-to-telecom conglomerate is the largest profit-making company, with a net profit of over Rs 35,000 crore in FY’19. His Reliance Jio is India’s largest telecom operator, with a subscriber base of 331 million.
Technically No. 2 after PM Modi in the Union Cabinet’s pecking order, Singh has now spent over five years at Raisina Hill. First Home and now Defence Minister, Singh thus has the rare distinction of heading the two ministries dealing with all aspects of national security.
In just over a decade, Sitharaman, who once was a part of the Free Thinkers group while studying in JNU and joined the BJP only in 2006, has risen from being a low-profile leader to a vociferous defender of the party in TV debates, to India’s first woman Defence Minister and now Finance Minister. Sitharaman is, in fact, the sole woman member in the elite Cabinet Committee on Security.
He was considered one of the most successful ministers in Modi’s first term, credited with re-energising the highways sector. The passage of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill in the beginning of its second term is seen as largely the result of Gadkari’s persistence and his personal equations with Opposition leaders.
With Amit Shah joining the government, Nadda, who has been his right hand man in the BJP, is expected to take over the reins of the world’s largest political party once its internal election process is over. Nadda proved his mettle during the 2019 elections, as in-charge of the party in Uttar Pradesh, against the formidable SP-BSP alliance.
Apart from heading the most politically crucial state, Adityanath has emerged as the star campaigner for the BJP across the country. Despite the Opposition targeting him over ‘lawlessness’, in the 2019 general elections, the BJP repeated its magnificent performance of 5 years ago.
As Maharashtra heads to polls, Fadnavis is the undisputed face of the BJP in the state. Only the second CM in the state to complete a full five-year term, Fadnavis has neutralised the discontent of ally Shiv Sena, and broken the back of the Opposition, wooing away Congress, NCP leaders.
Towards the end of the Modi-I government, he was given the charge of Railways, and impressed by implementing several new ideas. In the second term, he holds, besides Railways, the high-profile portfolio of Commerce and Industry, affirming the PM’s faith in him.
As the BJP’s face in Odisha, Pradhan played a crucial role in building the party organisation in the state. In the new Modi Cabinet, he continues to hold the powerful Petroleum and Natural Gas portfolio.
At a time when the Congress was being trounced in the rest of the country, he led the party to a thumping victory in the Assembly elections in 2017. Given his charisma and popularity, the Congress campaign was designed around Amarinder. Again, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party won eight of 13 seats in the state.
A full-time pracharak and strong RSS ideologue, Santhosh is the Sangh man in the BJP and expected to play the role of a hardliner in the party. Earlier, ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka, he was a dark horse in the race for the Chief Minister’s post
After the Congress’s second consecutive defeat in the general elections this year, she was brought back as ‘interim’ Congress president, as Rahul Gandhi insisted on resigning. At the party’s helm for nearly two decades now, she continues to be its most admired and loved leader.
Though the rise of the BJP is seen to have come at a personal cost for Nitish, the JD(U)’s tally in the last Lok Sabha elections — 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats it contested — showed he remains crucial to Bihar’s politics. And that the development card is still a bankable issue for Nitish.
Considered one of Modi’s key aides, Pramod Kumar Mishra’s position has got stronger thanks to his elevation as Principal Secretary to the PM (Cabinet rank) following Nripendra Misra’s departure.
Because he has been entrusted with two key ministries. As Minister of Law and Justice, he played a crucial role in passing key legislation such as the law criminalising triple talaq. As minister for Communications & Electronics and IT, he is spearheading the Digital India project.
Shaktikanta Das, Reserve Bank of India Governor: (2018 Rank: New) M K Stalin, DMK president: (2018 Rank: 24) Narendra Singh Tomar ,Minister of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare; Rural Development & Panchayati Raj: (2018 Rank: New) Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jal Shakti Minister: (2018 Rank: New)
Rahul Gandhi,Senior Congress leader: (2018 Rank: 11); Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy,Andhra Pradesh CM; YSRCP chief: (2018 Rank: 35); Uday Kotak, MD & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank: (2018 Rank: New); Gautam Adani,Chairman, Adani Group: (2018 Rank: 29)
Shaktikanta Das, Reserve Bank of India Governor: (2018 Rank: New); M K Stalin, DMK president: (2018 Rank: 24); Narendra Singh Tomar ,Minister of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare; Rural Development & Panchayati Raj: (2018 Rank: New); Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jal Shakti Minister: (2018 Rank: New)
Kamal Nath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister (2018 Rank: New)
Priyanka Gandhi, Congress general secretary (2018 Rank: New); Ashok Gehlot,Rajasthan Chief Minister (2018 Rank: New); General Bipin Rawat,Chief of Army Staff (2018 Rank: 41); P K Sinha, Principal Advisor to PM Modi (2018 Rank: New)
Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary (2018 Rank: New);Naveen Patnaik,Odisha Chief Minister; BJD chief (2018 Rank: 30); Ahmed Patel,Congress Treasurer; Rajya Sabha MP (2018 Rank: New); Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP vice-president (2018 Rank: 13)
B S Yediyurappa, Karnataka Chief Minister (2018 Rank: New);Edappadi K Palaniswami, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (2018 Rank: 64); B V R Subrahmanyam, J&K Chief Secretary (2018 Rank: New);Farooq Abdullah,National Conference president; Omar Abdullah, Former J&K chief minister
Ajay Tyagi, SEBI Chairman (2018 Rank: 61); Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana Chief Minister (2018 Rank: 57); Justice S A Bobde, Judge, Supreme Court of India (2018 Rank: New); Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner (2018 Rank: New)
Tushar Mehta,Solicitor General of India (2018 Rank: New); Arvind Kejriwal,Delhi CM; AAP national convenor (2018 Rank: 73); Virat Kohli, Indian cricket team captain (2018 Rank: 20); Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Congress, Lok Sabha (2018 Rank: New)
Bhupesh Baghel,Chhattisgarh Chief Minister (2018 Rank: New); Smriti Irani,Women and Child Development; Textiles Minister (2018 Rank: 39); Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Finance Minister, NEDA chief (2018 Rank: 27); Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Finance Minister, NEDA chief (2018 Rank: 27); Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood actor (2018 Rank: 77)
Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Group (2018 Rank: 51); Ghulam Nabi Azad,Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha (2018 Rank: New); Harivansh Narayan Singh,Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha (2018 Rank: New); Om Birla, Lok Sabha Speaker (2018 Rank: New)
K Chandrashekar Rao, Telangana Chief Minister; TRS chief (2018 Rank: 52); Justice Arun Mishra,Judge, Supreme Court of India (2018 Rank: New); Fali Nariman,Senior jurist (2018 Rank: 55); Azim Premji ,Founder chairman, Wipro (2018 Rank: 75)
Sunil Mittal, Founder & Chairman, Bharti Enterprises (2018 Rank: 96); Baba Ramdev,Co-Founder, Patanjali Ayurved (2018 Rank: 28); Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,Founder, Art of Living Foundation (2018 Rank: New);P C Mody,Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (2018 Rank: New)
Vijay Rupani, Gujarat Chief Minister (2018 Rank: 76); Uday Shankar,Chairman, Star and Disney India (2018 Rank: 69); Sanjay Mishra, Director, Enforcement Directorate (2018 Rank: New)Mayawati, BSP chief (2018 Rank: 14)
Akhilesh Yadav,Samajwadi Party President (2018 Rank: 15); Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala Chief Minister (2018 Rank: 42); Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM president (2018 Rank: 70); Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party president (2018 Rank: 25)
Vijay Shekhar Sharma,Founder and CEO, Paytm (2018 Rank: 88); Yogesh Chander Modi,Director General, NIA (2018 Rank: New); Mehbooba Mufti,PDP president (2018 Rank: 26); Ram Madhav,BJP general secretary (2018 Rank: 47)
Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister (2018 Rank: 71); Lalu Prasad ,RJD chief (2018 Rank: 17),Tejashwi Prasad Yadav ,Leader of Opposition, Bihar Assembly (2018 Rank: 18); Siddaramaiah ,Former Karnataka chief minister (2018 Rank: 19); Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group (2018 Rank: 63)
Prashant Bhushan,Lawyer-Activist (2018 Rank: 50); Rajiv Kumar,Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog (2018 Rank: 60); Naushad Forbes ,Co-chairman, Forbes Marshall (2018 Rank: New); P Gopichand ,National Badminton Coach (2018 Rank: 91)
P V Sindhu,Badminton World Champion (2018 Rank: New); Karan Johar ,Filmmaker, producer, talk show host (2018 Rank: 98); Mahendra Mohan Gupta,CMD, Jagran Prakashan Limited (2018 Rank: New); Akshay Kumar, Actor, Producer at Hari Om Entertainment (2018 Rank: New)
Samir Jain,Vice Chairman, Bennett Coleman Group (2018 Rank: 94), Vineet Jain,Managing Director, Bennett Coleman Group (2018 Rank: 94); T M Krishna ,Carnatic musician (2018 Rank: 100); Salman Khan, Actor, producer (2018 Rank: 81); Aamir khan , Actor, filmmaker (2018 Rank: 80)
Shah Rukh Khan, Actor, producer; IPL team owner (2018 Rank: 82); Kangana Ranaut,Actor, director (2018 Rank: 97); Deepika Padukone, Actor, producer (2018 Rank: 79)
