Three Parsis feature in The Indian Express (IE) list of the 100 most powerful Indians. The 60-page supplement distributed with the Sunday March 28, 2021 IE issue names jurist Fali Nariman, vaccine manufacturer Adar Poonawalla and industrialist Ratan Tata.
Nariman, ranked 69, is "one of the country’s most respected jurists and distinguished constitutional lawyers,” states IE. Serum Institute of India’s chief executive officer Poonawalla lists 86 and is referred to as "one of the most crucial figures in the effort to protect people against Covid-19, not just in India but globally.” On the 90th rung is retired chairman of Tata Sons, who is termed as "the guiding force behind the Tata group of companies.”
From l: Fali Nariman, Adar Poonawalla and Ratan Tata
Union minister for women and child development and textiles, Smriti Irani who is married to Zubin, ranks 64 and is "counted among the BJP’s (Bharatiya Janata Party) most powerful orators, both inside and outside of Parliament.”
Amongst others with a Parsi connection are Sonia Gandhi, the daughter-in-law of Feroze and Indira Gandhi and her two children, Rahul and Priyanka Vadra. President of the Indian National Congress (INC), Sonia ranked 34, is "still the last word in India’s grand old party.” Her son Rahul, listed 39, is "for all practical purposes the de facto head of the (Congress) party, while the general secretary of the INC, sister Priyanka, listed 41, "wields enormous influence in the party.”
With "more than half of the 100 linked to the ruling establishment at the center or the states, (the list is) a testament to the fact that power continues to be concentrated in the political (field),” noted IE. The achievements of Nariman, Poonawalla and Tata therefore stand out all the more.