NEW DELHI: The Ayodhya verdict was named the “Event of the Decade” while the five Supreme Court judges behind the verdict were named as the “Personality of the Year 2019” by search engine major Yahoo India on Monday.
The SC Bench — comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer — laid to rest the century-old dispute and emerged as YIR’s “Personality of the Year.”
Every year Yahoo publishes the list of top newsmakers and happenings that catches the interest of Internet users in the country in the “Year in Review for India” report.
The abrogation of Article 370 came in at the second spot with the decriminalisation of Article 377 and India’s 2011 World Cup win also making it to the “Top Indian Events of the Decade”.
The Nirbhaya rape case found a place on the list. This year also marked the end of a decade where India discovered its love for the Internet and the smartphone, thus, earning the telecom/smartphone revolution a place on this list.
On the back of a landslide victory in the Indian general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was 2019’s “Most Searched Personality” which he also held in 2018.
Cricketer M.S. Dhoni and actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas joined Modi on this list along with a surprise entrant — Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
Modi topped the list of “Most Searched Politicians of 2019” with Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee claiming the second spot, edging out Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had to settle for the third position.
Political heavyweights Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Banerjee and Union Minister Smriti Irani were India’s “Top 3 Most Powerful Women in 2019”.
Sports champions Harmanpreet Kaur and P.V. Sindhu also found a place on the list, with filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, whose film Gully Boy is headed for the Oscars, rounding off the top 10.