Congress calls Modi's 10th most admired personality tag 'good joke'

The Congress on Wednesday dubbed the World Economic Forum (WEF) survey positioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 10th most admired personality globally as a "good joke".

"This is a good joke. Mahatma Gandhi is on number four, Nelson Mandela tops the list. Narendra Modi has been positioned alongside others like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

"World Economic Forum (WEF) doesn't decide these rankings. WEF is a commercial thinktank. To be a part of it, one has to be pay $50,000 for delegate fees," said Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma.

"If Modi needs to take a certificate from WEF to position him as 10th most admired personality globally, it is surprising to see that people like Angela Merkel (German chancellor) and Putin (Russian president) are not there in the rankings. Few other big names of the world are not ther in the list," he added.

"There is no credibility or legitimacy of the so-called report of the World Economic Forum (WEF). It will be not good or coducive for the mental health of our PM if he believes that he is the 10th most popular person," he added.

Congress spokesperson said Modi is "already carried away too far by his persona. We should help him to come down to ground zero to see the realities of this country".

After Mandela, according to the WEF's Global Shapers Annual Survey 2015, Pope Francis is the second most admired leader. Others in the list are Tesla Motors' CEO Elon Musk (3rd rank), Microsoft Founder Bill Gates (5), US President Barack Obama (6th), Virgin Group Founder Richard Barson (7), Apple Founder Steve Jobs (8), Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus (9) and US investor Warren Buffett (11).

Instead of using strong language against the critics, it is the duty of the government in a democracy to listen to what others are saying, the spokesperson said, "A PM must remember he cannot hoodwink the people either in this country or the world."

"Our economy is in a bad state. If the international oil prices had not come down drastically from $111 to $44, given the fact that our exports have been nosediving for 10 months, the fact that our share in the global trade has contracted sharply when there has been a global expansion of trade, Indian economy would have been in the ICU.

"These happenings and developments are hurting the image of India. Hope the PM wakes up. Nobody is going to engage in this environment... PM is good at packaging, marketing and organising events. The nation's economy is neither managed nor government is run by loud words," he said.