Hu Jintao ranks No.1 in Forbes’ most powerful list

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who rules over one-fifth of the world’s population, has topped the list of world’s most powerful person while the UPA Chairperson and Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, has been ranked ninth by the US Forbes magazine.

Mr Jintao has been described by the magazine as a person who “unlike Western counterparts, can divert rivers, build cities, jail dissidents and censor internet without meddling from pesky bureaucrats, courts’’.

The US President, Mr Barack Obama, who last year topped the list, has been placed behind Mr Hu at second while Saudi King Abdullah stands the third most powerful man in the world.

Ms Sonia Gandhi, at ninth place, has been described as a person who wields unequalled influence over 1.2 billion Indians and “after being elected as Congress President for the record fourth term she has cemented her status as true heiress to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty’’.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has been ranked 18th among the world’s top 20 powerful people.

Forbes has described Dr Manmohan as ‘Soft-spoken Oxford-trained economist credited with transforming India’s quasi-socialist economy into world’s second-fastest growing’.

The other Indian who have made to the list include Reliance Industries CMD Mr Mukesh Ambani and NRI industrialist Mr Lakshmi Mittal who are ranked 34th and 44th, respectively.

Pakistan’s Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has been placed at 29th in the list, while Osama Bin Laden is at 57th and India’s most wanted Dawood Ibrahim is at 63th spot.

The Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, holds the fourth place and Pope Benedict XVI has been placed fifth, while German Chancellor is at sixth place, the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, at seventh and the Chairman of US Federal Reserve, Mr Ben Bernanke, is at eight place in the list.

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