'Manmohan a quiet giant who could make history'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a “quiet giant” who may be an introvert but could make history, the Time magazine has concluded.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a “quiet giant” who may be an introvert but could make history, the Time magazine has concluded.

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Singh was a man “who governs the world’s second most populous country” and is “notably self effacing”, it said in its latest issue. The magazine described him as a “lifelong technocrat who isn’t always comfortable in rough-and-tumble Indian politics”.

The evaluation comes as Singh faced a tough political challenge back home in the recent past, leading a government that is battling allegations of scams and corruption as well as political criticism of his perceived silence.

The other giant introverts rated by Time are Mahatma Gandhi, baseball player Joe Dimaggio, religious leader Moses, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, business magnate Warren Buffet, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Mother Teresa.

Describing Gandhi as a “revolutionary”, it said he “changed the direction of an entire nation, but he was always an inward-looking person, at ease on his own and in his own skin.”

Time has also come up with a list of extroverts. Former US president Bill Clinton, former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Apple founder Steve Jobs, former Russian Boris Yeltsin, Queen Marie Antoinette, boxer Muhammad Ali, former British prime minister Winston Churchill and former US president George W Bush have been rated as “loud giants”