Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was named amongst five Indian-origin personalities. The list also included Twitter’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde and UK’s finance minister Rishi Sunak.
In TIME magazine’s annual list of 100 “emerging leaders who are shaping the future”, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was named amongst five Indian-origin personalities. The list also included Twitter’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde and UK’s finance minister Rishi Sunak.
On Wednesday, the 2021 TIME100 Next list was released, which is an expansion of TIME’s flagship TIME100 franchise of the most influential people in the world and highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future.
Dan Macsai, the editorial director of the TIME100, said: “Everyone on this list is poised to make history. And in fact, many already have.”
The Time Profile of Azad reads: “Aazad, 34, is the leader of the Bhim Army, which runs schools to help Dalits escape poverty through education and also practices a distinct brand of assertiveness, sweeping into villages on loud motorbikes to protect victims of caste-based violence and organising provocative demonstrations against discrimination.”
“Aazad has also lent his support to several other progressive movements, including recently to farmers protesting against corporate agricultural reforms. He hopes to turn the reach of the Bhim Army—and his own growing popularity—into wins at the ballot box, and in March 2020 launched a political party. Its first real test comes during elections next year in Uttar Pradesh, where Hindu nationalists are politically dominant,” his profile read.
Aazad and the Bhim army also “spearheaded a campaign for justice” in the case of the fatal gang-rape of a 19-year old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.
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