Forbes India: Prashant Kishor and Kanhaiya Kumar feature in ‘list of 20 people to watch in 2020s’

Prashant Kishor, poll strategist and JD(U) national vice-president and Kanhaiya Kumar, former JNU Students’ Union president from Bihar have found a place in the Forbes India’s prestigious list of ‘20 people to watch in the 2020s’.

While mentioning the names of Prashant Kishor and Kanhaiya Kumar in the list of world’s 20 top future powerful people, the Forbes India magazine said, “They could be the defining faces of the decade.”

Prashant Kishor hails from Sasaram in Rohtas district and Kanhaiya has been born and brought up in Begusarai district.

Apart from Prashant and Kanhaiya, other prominent Indians in the list are Dushyant Chautala (deputy CM of Haryana), Mahua Moitra (Lok Sabha member of TMC), the Godrej family (of Adi Godrej) and Garima Arora (chef and the first Indian woman to receive a Michelin star).

The other people of Indian origin in the list are US-born Hasan Minhaj (comedian, political commentator) and Aditya Mittal (Group CFO and CEO, ArcelorMittal Europe).

“Prashant Kishor has been a political strategist since 2011 when he helped the BJP win the Gujarat state elections. This was followed by his 2014 campaign for the BJP under his political strategy firm Citizen for Accountable Governance (CAG) which helped it win the Lok Sabha elections. The CAG was renamed as I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) and Kishor now serves as mentor to the organization,” says Forbes India Magazine.

“Kanhaiya Kumar went on to become the face of student politics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after he was slapped with sedition charges in 2016. A doctorate from JNU, he fought his first electoral battle during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai constituency in Bihar for CPI. Though he lost to Giriraj Singh of BJP by 4.2 lakh votes, he managed to poll 22.03 per cent votes. Political analysts say while it is early days for him, Kumar is someone who has been actively voicing his views across the country, questioning the government and its policies. A powerful orator, he is expected to make a mark in Indian politics in the future,” Forbes India says.

Prominent name among the world fame leaders to find a place in the list are Gotabaya Rajapaksa (President of Sri Lanka), Mohammed bin Salman (Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia), Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand PM), Boris Johnson (PM, the UK), Sanna Marin (Finland PM), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (member of US House of Representatives for New York) and Greta Thunberg (famous environmental activist).