Bapu netizens' top search, shows Google

Gandhi ranks ahead of Kalam, Pratibha Patil, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, thanks to Lage Raho Munnabhai.

Munnabhai

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and his 'Gandhigiri' seem to have helped the country rediscover the ideals of the Father of the Nation, who has emerged as the most popular political leader searched for on the internet.

Among the most popular searches for the year 2007, Mahatma Gandhi has been ranked ahead of ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam, present incumbent Pratibha Patil, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, who figure on the list of top ten political leaders compiled by online search giant Google.

Kalam has been ranked at the second position, while Patil is at the sixth position. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been named at 3rd and 8th positions respectively, while Indira Gandhi occupies the fourth position.

The list also features Rabindranath Tagore (5th), Subhash Chandra Bose (7th), Sarojini Naidu (9th) and Mayawati (10th).

In an accompanying list of top ten sportstars, tennis sensation Sania Mirza emerged as the most popular, followed by Russian Maria Sharapova, Sachin Tendulkar, WWF wrestler John Cena, British football star David Beckham, Brazil's Cristiano Ronaldo, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguli and Anna Kournikova.

Google said that tennis, cricket and football players were the most popular sports stars searched by Indians.

When it comes to the tinsel town, silver screen beauties have upstaged the male actors with Aishwarya Rai ruling the hearts and minds of the Indians.

The

Om Shanti Om

girl Deepika Padukone has also earned a spot in the top 10. Rai was followed by Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif and Shahrukh Khan in the top five.