PV Narasimha Rao: The Prime Minister of the Congress Party, whom the Congressmen themselves ‘did not accept as their own’!

For four decades after India’s independence, everyone believed that only the Nehru-Gandhi family had the ability to run the country, but PV Narasimha Rao proved everyone wrong with his decisions and ability. People from outside the Gandhi-Nehru family who became the Prime Minister of the country included PV Narasimha Rao. He has many anecdotes and stories of his own, but he was both respected and disrespected within the Congress. Even at one time some Congressmen did not consider him as one of their own.

Born on 28 June 1921 in Karimnagar, Telangana, PV Narasimha Rao was thinking of leaving politics in 1991, when the tragic assassination of Rajiv Gandhi forced him to assume the post of Prime Minister. His tenure as Prime Minister began with law and order problems in Punjab and Assam and a serious balance of payments crisis. His leadership was credited with solving these problems and initiating far-reaching economic reforms toward liberalization, privatization, and globalization.

It is said that PV Narasimha Rao was capable enough to save India before it reached the condition Pakistan is in today. After this, under his leadership, India not only made progress in missile, nuclear and mobile technologies, but during his tenure many welfare programs like Mid Day Meal Scheme, PM Rojgar Yojana etc. were also started.

Narasimha Rao’s legacy also went down in Indian history with landmark initiatives like Navodaya Schools, Look East Policy, economic reforms and land reforms.

Then there came a time when PV Narasimha Rao’s thinking was termed as ‘pro-Hindu mentality’. This voice was raised from within the Congress itself. On December 6, 1992, just a few months after PV Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister, the disputed structure in Ayodhya was demolished by kar sevaks.

Leaders like Makhanlal Fotedar had held PV Narasimha Rao responsible for this. Makhanlal Fotedar wrote a lot about the demolition of the disputed structure and PV Narasimha Rao’s stance at that time in his autobiography ‘The Chinar Leaves’. After this, in Kuldeep Nayyar’s book ‘Beyond the Lines’, PV Narasimha Rao was accused of neglect.

Former Foreign Minister Natwar Singh had termed this development as the biggest failure of Narasimha Rao’s tenure. After this, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has even said that Narasimha Rao’s ‘pro-Hindu thinking’ encouraged the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992. The Congress leader had even said that Narasimha Rao was the first Prime Minister of BJP.

During the launch of a book in 2016, Iyer had said, “Former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s inclination towards Hindutva was the reason for the demolition of Babri Masjid.”

Moreover, it was not just the Babri Masjid issue, but there were also many stories of rift between PV Narasimha Rao and Sonia Gandhi. These were the reasons why the Congress leadership had forgotten him for almost one and a half decade after his death on 23 December 2004.