P. V. Narasimha Rao


Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996. His ascendancy to the prime ministership was politically significant in that he was the second holder of this office from a non-Hindi-speaking region and the first from Southern India. He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India. Rao, who held the Industries portfolio, was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj, as this came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, reversing the socialist policies of Rajiv Gandhi's government. He is often referred to as the "Father of Indian Economic Reforms". Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government. He employed Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister to embark on historic economic transition. With Rao's mandate, Dr. Manmohan Singh launched India's globalisation angle of the reforms that implemented the International Monetary Fund policies to rescue the almost bankrupt nation from economic collapse. Rao was also referred to as Chanakya for his ability to steer economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a minority government.
According to a former Foreign Minister of India Natwar Singh, "Unlike Nehru, his knowledge of Sanskrit was profound. Nehru had a temper, PV a temperament. His roots were deep in the spiritual and religious soil of India. He did not need to 'Discover India'". 11th President of India APJ Abdul Kalam described Rao as a "patriotic statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the political system". Kalam acknowledged that Rao in fact asked him to get ready for nuclear tests in 1996 but they were not carried out as government at center got changed due to 1996 general election. The tests were later conducted by Vajpayee-led NDA government. In fact Rao briefed Vajpayee on nuclear plans.
Rao's term as Prime Minister was an eventful one in India's history. Besides marking a paradigm shift from the industrialising, mixed economic model of Jawaharlal Nehru to a market driven one, his years as Prime Minister also saw the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a major right-wing party, as an alternative to the Indian National Congress which had been governing India for most of its post-independence history. Rao's term also saw the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh when BJP's Kalyan Singh was Chief Minister, which triggered one of the worst Hindu-Muslim riots in the country since its independence.
Rao died in 2004 of a heart attack in New Delhi. He was cremated in Hyderabad. He was a versatile thinker with interests in a variety of subjects such as literature and computer software. He spoke 17 languages.
Although heavily criticized during his tenure and even sidelined later by his own party, retrospective evaluations have been kinder, even positioning him as one of the best prime ministers of India in various polls and analyses. His achievements include steering India through the 1991 economic crisis, completing a tenure with a minority government, establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, starting India's Look East policy, rekindling India's nuclear programme, defeating the 1994 United Nations resolution against India, effectively handling insurgency in Punjab, tough policy against terrorism in Kashmir, and opening partial diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Early life

PV Narasimha Rao was born on 28 June 1921 in a Telugu speaking Niyogi Brahmin family in the village of Laknepalli village of Narsampet mandal, in Warangal district, now in Telangana. Later he was adopted and brought to Vangara, a village in Bheemadevarpalle mandal of Karimnagar district in Telangana, then part of Hyderabad State, when he was three years old. His father, Pamulaparthi Sitarama Rao, and mother, Pamulaparthi Rukmini, hailed from agrarian families. Popularly known as PV, he completed part of his primary education in Katkuru village of Bheemdevarapalli mandal in Karimnagar district by staying in his relative Gabbeta Radhakishan Rao's house and studying for his Bachelor's degree in the Arts college at the Osmania University. P.V. Narasimha Rao was part of Vande Matram movement in late 1930s in the Hyderabad state. He later went on to Hislop College, now under Nagpur University, where he completed a Master's degree in law. He completed his law from Fergusson College in Pune of the University of Bombay.
Along with his distant cousin Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao, Ch. Raja Narendra and Devulapalli Damodar Rao, PV edited a Telugu weekly magazine called Kakatiya Patrika in the 1940s. Both PV and Sadasiva Rao contributed articles under the pen-name Jaya-Vijaya. He served as the chairman of the Telugu Academy in Andhra Pradesh from 1968 to 1974.

Political career

Rao was an active freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement and joined full-time politics after independence as a member of the Indian National Congress. He served as an elected representative for Andhra Pradesh state assembly from 1957 to 1977. He served in various ministerial positions in Andhra government from 1962 to 1973. He became the Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1971 and implemented land reforms and land ceiling acts strictly. He secured reservation for lower castes in politics during his tenure. President's rule had to be imposed to counter the Jai Andhra movement during his tenure.
He supported Indira Gandhi in formation of New Congress party in 1969 by splitting the Indian National Congress. This was later regrouped as Congress party in 1978. He served as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh districts in 1972. He rose to national prominence in 1972 for handling several diverse portfolios, most significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He serves as Foreign minister from 1980 to 1984 and then from 1988 to 1989. In fact, it is speculated that he was in the running for the post of India's President along with Zail Singh in 1982.
Rao very nearly retired from politics in 1991. It was the assassination of the Congress President Rajiv Gandhi that persuaded him to make a comeback. As the Congress had won the largest number of seats in the 1991 elections, he had an opportunity to head the minority government as Prime Minister. He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years, the first to hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, and also the first from southern India. Since Rao had not contested the general elections, he then participated in a by-election in Nandyal to join the parliament. Rao won from Nandyal with a victory margin of a record 5 lakh votes and his win was recorded in the Guinness Book Of World Records and he was Prime Minister of India at that time; later on, in 1996, he was MP from Berhampur, Ganjam, Odisha. His cabinet included Sharad Pawar, himself a strong contender for the Prime Minister's post, as Defence Minister. He also broke a convention by appointing a non-political economist and future prime minister, Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister. He also appointed Subramanian Swamy, an Opposition party member as the Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade. This has been the only instance that an Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party. He also sent Opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to represent India in a UN meeting at Geneva.
Narasimha Rao fought and won elections from different parts of India such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.
#PositionTook OfficeLeft OfficeConstituencyState
1Member of Legislative Assembly19571977ManthaniAndhra Pradesh
2Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha19771980HanamkondaAndhra Pradesh
3Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha19801984HanamkondaAndhra Pradesh
4Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha19841989RamtekMaharashtra
5Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha19891991RamtekMaharashtra
6Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha19911996NandyalAndhra Pradesh
7Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha19961998BrahmapurOdisha

Prime minister

Economic reforms

Adopted to avert impending 1991 economic crisis, the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Rao's government's goals were reducing the fiscal deficit, Privatization of the public sector and increasing investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao wanted I.G. Patel as his Finance Minister. Patel was an official who helped prepare 14 budgets, an ex-governor of Reserve Bank of India and had headed The London School of Economics. But Patel declined. Rao then chose Manmohan Singh for the job. Manmohan Singh, an acclaimed economist, played a central role in implementing these reforms.
Major reforms in India's capital markets led to an influx of foreign portfolio investment. The major economic policies adopted by Rao include:
The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment in India grew from a minuscule US$132 million in 1991–92 to $5.3 billion in 1995–96. Rao began industrial policy reforms with the manufacturing sector. He slashed industrial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing. Industrial regulation was rationalised.

National security, foreign policy and crisis management

Rao energised the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles program, which ultimately resulted in the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. It is speculated that the tests were actually planned in 1995, during Rao's term in office, and that they were dropped under American pressure when the US intelligence got the whiff of it. Another view was that he purposefully leaked the information to gain time to develop and test thermonuclear device which was not yet ready. He increased military spending, and set the Indian Army on course to fight the emerging threat of terrorism and insurgencies, as well as Pakistan and China's nuclear potentials. It was during his term that terrorism in the Indian state of Punjab was finally defeated. Also scenarios of aircraft hijackings, which occurred during Rao's time ended without the government conceding the terrorists' demands. He also directed negotiations to secure the release of Doraiswamy, an Indian Oil executive, from Kashmiri terrorists who kidnapped him, and Liviu Radu, a Romanian diplomat posted in New Delhi in October 1991, who was kidnapped by Sikh terrorists. Rao also handled the Indian response to the occupation of the Hazratbal holy shrine in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists in October 1993. He brought the occupation to an end without damage to the shrine. Similarly, he dealt with the kidnapping of some foreign tourists by a terrorist group called Al Faran in Kashmir in 1995 effectively. Although he could not secure the release of the hostages, his policies ensured that the terrorists demands were not conceded to, and that the action of the terrorists was condemned internationally, including Pakistan.
Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States, and China. He decided in 1992 to bring into the open India's relations with Israel, which had been kept covertly active for a few years during his tenure as a Foreign Minister, and permitted Israel to open an embassy in New Delhi. He ordered the intelligence community in 1992 to start a systematic drive to draw the international community's attention to Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism against India and not to be discouraged by US efforts to undermine the exercise. Rao launched the Look East foreign policy, which brought India closer to ASEAN. According to Rejaul Karim Laskar, a scholar of India's foreign policy and ideologue of Rao's Congress Party, Rao initiated the Look East policy with three objectives in mind, namely, to renew political contacts with the ASEAN-member nation; to increase economic interaction with South East Asia in trade, investment, science and technology, tourism, etc.; and to forge strategic and defence links with several countries of South East Asia. He decided to maintain a distance from the Dalai Lama in order to avoid aggravating Beijing's suspicions and concerns, and made successful overtures to Tehran. The 'cultivate Iran' policy was pushed through vigorously by him. These policies paid rich dividends for India in March 1994, when Benazir Bhutto's efforts to have a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir failed, with opposition by China and Iran.
Rao's crisis management after 12 March 1993 Bombay bombings was highly praised. He personally visited Bombay after the blasts and after seeing evidence of Pakistani involvement in the blasts, ordered the intelligence community to invite the intelligence agencies of the US, UK and other West European countries to send their counter-terrorism experts to Bombay to examine the facts for themselves.

Economic crisis and initiation of liberalisation

Rao decided that India, which in 1991 was on the brink of bankruptcy, would benefit from liberalising its economy. He appointed economist Dr. Manmohan Singh, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as Finance Minister to accomplish his goals. This liberalisation was criticised by many socialist nationalists at that time.
He is often referred as 'Father of Indian Economic Reforms'. With Rao's mandate, then finance minister Manmohan Singh launched a series of pro-globalisation reforms, including International Monetary Fund policies, to rescue the almost-bankrupt nation from economic collapse.

Father of Indian nuclear Program

Dr. Kalam recalls that Rao ordered him not to test, since "the election result was quite different from what he anticipated". The BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee took over as prime minister on 16 May 1996. Narasimha Rao, Abdul Kalam and R Chidambaram went to meet the new prime minister "so that", in Kalam's telling, "the smooth takeover of such a very important programme can take place".
Rao knew he had only one chance to test before sanctions kicked in, i.e., he could not both test conventional atomic bombs in December 1995 as well as the hydrogen bomb separately in April 1996. As Shekhar Gupta – who has had unprecedented access to Rao as well as the nuclear team – speculates: "By late 1995, Rao’s scientists told him that they needed six more months. They could test some weapons but not others…thermonuclear etc. So Rao began a charade of taking preliminary steps to test, without intending to test then."
National elections were scheduled for May 1996, and Rao spent the next two months campaigning. On 8 May at 9 PM, Abdul Kalam was asked to immediately meet with the prime minister. Rao told him, "Kalam, be ready with the Department of Atomic Energy and your team for the N-test and I am going to Tirupati. You wait for my authorisation to go ahead with the test. DRDO-DAE teams must be ready for action."
Rao energised the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles program. His efforts resulted in the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests.
Rao was the "true father" of India's nuclear programme. Vajpayee said that, in May 1996, a few days after he had succeeded Rao as prime minister, "Rao told me that the bomb was ready. I only exploded it."
"Saamagri tayyar hai," Rao had said. "You can go ahead."
The conventional narrative at the time was that prime minister Rao had wanted to test nuclear weapons in December 1995. The Americans had caught on, and Rao had dithered – as was his wont. Three years later, prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee fulfilled his party's campaign promise by ordering five nuclear tests below the shimmering sands of Rajasthan.

Handling of separatist movements

Rao successfully decimated the Punjab separatist movement and neutralised Kashmir separatist movement. It is said that Rao was 'solely responsible' for the decision to hold elections in Punjab, no matter how narrow the electorate base would be. In dealing with Kashmir Rao's government was highly restrained by US government and its president Bill Clinton. Rao's government introduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act, India's first anti-terrorism legislation, and directed the Indian Army to eliminate the infiltrators from Pakistan. Despite a heavy and largely successful Army campaign, Pakistani Media accuses that the state descended into a security nightmare. Tourism and commerce were also largely disrupted.

Babri Mosque riots

In the late 1980s, the Bharatiya Janata Party brought the Ram Janmabhoomi issue to the centrestage of national politics, and the BJP and VHP began organising larger protests in Ayodhya and around the country
Members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad demolished the Babri Mosque proceeded with the planning for the destruction of the disputed structure. The Supreme Court's own observer failed to alert it to the sinister undercurrents. The Governor and its intelligence agencies, charged with acting as the eyes and ears of the central government also failed in their task. Without substantive procedural prerequisites, neither the Supreme Court, nor the Union of India was able to take any meaningful steps."
In yet another discussion with journalist Shekhar Gupta, Rao answered several of the questions on the demolition. He said he was wary of the impact of hundreds of deaths on the nation, and it could have been far worse. And also he had to consider the scenario in which some of the troops might have turned around and joined the mobs instead. Regarding dismissal of Kalyan Singh, he said, "mere dismissal does not mean you can take control. It takes a day or so appointing advisers, sending them to Lucknow, taking control of the state. Meanwhile, what had to happen would have happened and there would have been no Kalyan Singh to blame either."

Latur earthquake

In 1993, a strong earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra killed nearly 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Rao was applauded by many for using modern technology and resources to organise major relief operations to assuage the stricken people, and for schemes of economic reconstruction.

Purulia arms drop case

Narasimha Rao was charged for facilitating his safe exit of accused of 1995 Purulia arms drop case. Although it was never proved.

Corruption charges and acquittal

Rao's government was facing a no-confidence motion in July 1993, because the opposition felt that it did not have sufficient numbers to prove a majority. It was alleged that Rao, through a representative, offered millions of rupees to members of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and possibly a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal, to vote for him during the confidence motion. Shailendra Mahato, one of those members who had accepted the bribe, turned approver. In 1996, after Rao's term in office had expired, investigations began in earnest in the case. In 2000, after years of legal proceedings, a special court convicted Rao and his colleague, Buta Singh. Rao was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption. "I sentence the accused PV Narasimha Rao and Buta Singh to rigorous imprisonment up to three years and a fine of 100,000 rupees," the judge said in his order. Rao appealed to the Delhi High Court and remained free on bail. In 2002, the Delhi High Court overturned the lower court's decision mainly due to the doubt in credibility of Mahato's statements and both Rao and Buta Singh were cleared of the charges.
Rao, along with fellow minister K.K. Tewary, Chandraswami and K.N. Aggarwal, were accused of forging documents showing that Ajeya Singh had opened a bank account in the First Trust Corporation Bank in St. Kitts and deposited $21 million in it, making his father V. P. Singh its beneficiary. The alleged intent was to tarnish V.P. Singh's image. This supposedly happened in 1989. However, only after Rao's term as PM had expired in 1996, was he formally charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the crime. Less than a year later the court acquitted him due to lack of evidence linking him with the case.
Lakhubhai Pathak, an Indian businessman living in England, alleged that Chandraswami and K.N. Aggarwal alias Mamaji, along with Rao, cheated him out of $100,000. The amount was given for an express promise for allowing supplies of paper pulp in India, and Pathak alleged that he spent an additional $30,000 entertaining Chandraswami and his secretary. Narasimha Rao and Chandraswami were acquitted of the charges in 2003 and before his death, Rao was acquitted of all the cases charged against him,

Later life and financial difficulties

In spite of significant achievements in a difficult situation, in the 1996 general elections the Indian electorate voted out Rao's Congress Party. Soon, Sonia Gandhi's supporters forced Mr. Rao to step down as Party President. He was replaced by Sitaram Kesri.
Rao rarely spoke of his personal views and opinions during his 5-year tenure. After his retirement from national politics, he published a novel called The Insider. The book, which follows a man's rise through the ranks of Indian politics, resembled events from Rao's own life.
According to a vernacular source, despite holding many influential posts in Government, he faced many financial troubles. One of his sons was educated with the assistance of his son-in-law. He also faced trouble paying fees for a daughter who was studying medicine. According to P. V. R. K. Prasad, an Indian Administrative Service officer who was Narasimha Rao's media advisor when the latter was Prime Minister, Rao asked his friends to sell away his house at Banjara Hills to clear the dues of lawyers.

Death

Rao suffered a heart attack on 9 December 2004, and was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he died 14 days later at the age of 83. His family wanted the body cremated in Delhi. "This is his karmabhoomi", Rao's son Prabhakara told Manmohan Singh. But it is alleged that Sonia Gandhi's closest aides ensured that the body was moved to Hyderabad. In Delhi, his body was not allowed inside AICC building. His body was kept in state at the Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad. His funeral was attended by the then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, the then Home Affairs Minister Shivraj Patil, the then Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani, the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and many other dignitaries. Rao was a long-time widower, since his wife died in 1970 and he was survived by his eight children. A memorial was built for Sri P.V. Narasimha Rao located adjacent to Sanjeevaiah Park, Developed during 2005 in 2.9 acres extent known as P.V. Gyan Bhoomi. The Government of Telangana declared his birthday to be celebrated as a Telangana State function in 2014. 10 years after death, P.V. Narasimha Rao gets memorial in Delhi at Ekta Sthal, which is now integrated with Rashtriya Smriti a common place for erecting memorials for former Presidents,PMs and others. The memorial is raised on a plinth in marble bearing text highlighting briefly his contributions. The plaque describes Rao: "Known as the scholar Prime Minister of India, Shri P V Narasimha Rao was born on 28 June 1921 in Laknepalli Village, Warangal District in Telangana state. He rose to prominence as freedom fighter who fought the misrule of the Nizam during the formulative years of his political career. A reformer, educationist, scholar, conversant in 15 languages and known for his intellectual contribution, he was called the ‘Brihaspati’ of Andhra Pradesh."

Personal life

Narasimha Rao was married to Satyamma Rao, who died on 1 July 1970. They had three sons and five daughters. His eldest son P.V. Rangarao was an education minister in Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy's cabinet and MLA from Hanamakonda Assembly Constituency, in Warangal District for two terms. His second son, P. V. Rajeshwar Rao, was a Member of Parliament of the 11th Lok Sabha from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Biographical and Political evaluation

On the occasion of 25 years of economic liberalisation in India, there have been several books published by authors, journalists and civil servants evaluating Rao's contributions. While Dr. Vinay Sitapati's book Half Lion: How P V Narasimha Rao transformed India gives a renewed biographical picture of his entire life, Dr. Sanjay Baru's book 1991: How P V Narasimha Rao made history and Jairam Ramesh's book From the brink to back: India's 1991 story focusses on his role in unleashing the reforms in the year 1991 as the Prime Minister of India. In the year 2019, an independent biographical documentary film named P V: Change with Continuity directed and produced by Sravani Kotha and Srikar Reddy Gopaladinne has been released on Vimeo-on-demand streaming platform. The documentary features rare archival footage and interviews of several distinguished people closely related to Rao's life and work.

Literary achievements

Rao's mother tongue was Telugu, and he had an excellent command of Marathi. In addition to eight other Indian languages, he spoke English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German and Persian. He was able to speak 17 languages. Due to his college education in Fergusson College in Pune, then an affiliated college of the University of Mumbai, he became a very prolific reader and speaker of Marathi. He translated the great Telugu literary work Veyipadagalu of Kavi Samraat Viswanatha Satyanarayana into Hindi as Sahasraphan. He also translated Hari Narayan Apte's Marathi novel Pan Lakshat Kon Gheto into Telugu. He was also invited to be the chief guest of Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sanmelan where he gave speech in Marathi.
In his later life he wrote his autobiography, The Insider, which depicts his experiences in politics.

"Sonia Gandhi praised contributions of all Congress prime ministers except P V Narasimha Rao in her speech... Making no mention of Rao in her 15-minute speech, she said Rajiv Gandhi scripted the course of economic policies that were followed by the government for the following five years."


"Even today, the Congress leadership shows extreme reluctance to acknowledge the role PV Narasimha Rao played in appointing Manmohan Singh as his finance minister and giving him the freedom to unveil the economic reforms package to bail the Indian economy out of an unprecedented crisis. The Congress leadership was correct in blaming Narasimha Rao for his political misjudgment on the Ayodhya issue. But it is now time the same leadership also acknowledged Narasimha Rao's role in ushering in economic reforms."

Awards

Rao was awarded the Pratibha Murthy Lifetime Achievement Award. Many people across the party line supported the name of P V Narasimha Rao for Bharat Ratna. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao supported the move to give Bharat Ratna to Rao. Even BJP leader Subramanian Swamy supported the move to give Bharat Ratna to Rao. According to Sanjay Baru, PM Manmohan Singh wanted to give Bharat Ratna to Rao during his tenure.

Year-long centenary celebrations

Telangana Rashtra Samithi -led government in Telangana has declared to organise one-year centenary celebrations of late Congress leader and former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday declared that the celebration is to recall and remember the services rendered by former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in several fields. He said the state has decided to organise the centenary celebrations for one year
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday attended the birth centenary celebrations of late former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao held at PV Ghat, Necklace Road in Hyderabad.Recently, Rao said that the state was set to observe year-long centenary celebrations of late former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao from June 28.
PV Narasimha Rao's birth centenary celebrations were being organised by Telangana people in 51 countries across the globe.

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