Modi, Shaheen Bagh Dadi, Ayushmann among TIME’s most influential people

New Delhi

The annual list features pioneers, artists, titans, leaders and icons from around the “who have had the most impact this year”. While Modi is listed in the ‘Leaders’ category, Bilkis, a.k.a ‘Dadi of Shaheen Bagh’, has been featured under ‘Icons’. Ayushmann is listed under ‘Artists’.

The Prime Minister, who turned 70 this year, was last featured on the annual TIME magazine list in 2017.

Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh became the heart of protests against the CAA as hundreds of people – mostly women – braved Delhi’s winter for over 100 days and sat on the road in protest. Bilkis is among those better known as the ‘Dadis (Grandmothers) of Shaheen Bagh’ and had led the protests from the front, shedding the comfort of their homes. The elderly women were accorded a prominent space in the front row on each day of the protests. The profile of Bilkis in the TIME magazine list, written by journalist and writer Rana Ayyub, says she “became the voice of the marginalised in India”. “With prayer beads in one hand and the national flag in the other, Bilkis became the voice of the marginalised in India, an 82-year-old who would sit at a protest site from 8 am to midnight,” it says.

The others featured on the magazine’s list include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, US President Donald Trump, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Professor Ravindra Gupta.