New York: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was on Wednesday named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the world. Banerjee chose to dedicate the "inclusion" to the people of Bengal.
"I don't care about conspiracies. I dedicated the Time magazine inclusion to the people of Bengal," she said.
Banerjee now joins a club of "people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world", that includes US President Barack Obama, billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Pakistan's first Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Time said Banerjee, referred to by her supporters as Didi, was labelled by critics as a "mercurial oddball and a shrieking street fighter".
"But ultimately she proved to be the consummate politician. Through successive elections, Banerjee steadily expanded her power base while chipping away at those of her opponents," the magazine, which released its 2012 list of the 100 Most influential people in the world today, said.
It said Banerjee's lower-middle-class background was no obstacle in a country notorious for its dynasties.
In New Delhi's back rooms, where political horse trading is the name of the game, she excelled. On the streets, she out-Marxed the Marxists.
And as chief minister of her home state, she has emerged as a populist woman of action — strident and divisive but poised to play an even greater role in the world's largest democracy.
Another Indian to make it to the list is advocate Anjali Gopalan, whose work is not just restricted to courtrooms. She also runs a home for HIV-positive orphans.
"Through her work at the Naz Foundation, Gopalan, 54, has done more than anyone else to advance the rights of gays and the transgendered in India, successfully petitioning the courts to get rid of a British-era law against sodomy," said Time.
(With additional information from PTI)
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