Singapore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Friday named “Asian of the Year” for being development-focused leader of India by editors of Singapore’s leading daily, The Straits Times.
Despite being relatively new to the job, he has already made a mark on Asia, reaching out to neighbours and receiving national leaders including Xi Jinping of China and Tony Abbott of Australia,” said the Singapore Press Holdings Limited, publisher of the daily.
PM Modi has got India and the world excited about his country’s prospects again,” Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez said in a press statement. The charismatic nationalist politician won India’s biggest electoral victory in three decades in the April-May polls and has been received like a pop star in visits to the United States and Australia.
Modi, 64, has vowed to reform the economy of the nation of 1.2 billion people by slashing red tape, attracting foreign investment and harnessing the potential of its youthful population.
The editors’ choice was based on several factors. Modi was picked for being development-focused Prime Minister of India who fashioned an impressive victory for BJP in the polls. In every December, editors of the Singapore daily pick an Asian whose actions have significantly impacted his own society or the wider Asian continent in the 12 months past.
Last year, the award was shared by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The inaugural award, in 2012, went to President Thein Sein of Myanmar.
Bureau Report
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