With Congress President Rahul Gandhi mocking the prime minister for being awarded the Philip Kotler award, the marketing guru took to Twitter to congratulate Narendra Modi for the honour and hailed his “selfless service towards India”.
Kotler also clarified to India Today that he “endorsed” the award conferred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that there was no outside intervention. This statement came after Opposition leaders raked up the issue and questioned the organisation behind the award.
Kotler in an email conversation with India Today further said, “I endorsed the award. No Indian or outsider ever came to us. No one knew that we were contemplating an award to be given to some major public leader.”
Explaining the rationale behind choosing the prime minister for the award, Kotler also told the TV channel that they choose a public figure who encourages companies "to pursue the triple bottom line of profits, people and the planet”.
The english news channel also got in touch with Jagdish Sheth, the man who handed the award to the prime minister who said:
“There was no jury in terms of formal nominations by people. It was basically decided by Professor Kotler himself in consultation with a few people and it was so obvious in his mind that he would be the ideal person to give the award, especially given the transition the nation is making.”Jagdish Sheth to India Today
Sheth also added that the award was conferred to the prime minister based on “Kotler’s own view of democracy”.
The award is given by World Marketing Summit (WMS) in an arrangement with Kotler impact and Suslence, an Aligarh based firm, to hold the awards in India.
However, according to the news channel, when they reached the office of Suslence in Aligarh, there was no person or any board which indicated that the company existed there.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 14 January 2018, was awarded the ‘first-ever’ Philip Kotler Presidential Award.
(With inputs from PTI and India Today)
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