Remembering Rao

History will be kinder to the former PM than his party

It is only the so-called “pseudo-secularists” of the Congress party and the residual victims of the Jain “hawala” diaries who can truly bear a grudge against former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. All others would take a more objective view of his legacy and would be quite willing to concede that Narasimha Rao did make a difference and, for that reason, ought to get more credit than he does as a former PM. At a time when sundry “VVIPs” regularly drive around the nation’s Capital to lay wreaths at the samadhis of former PMs, presidents and other sectional political leaders, it is a pity that Narasimha Rao’s 90th birth anniversary went by last week without much ado. For all his negative acts of omission and commission, the worst being, according to his critics, his failure to prevent the demolition of the disputed Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya, Narasimha Rao steered India, with the help of a minority government that he had accidentally inherited, through the nation’s worst economic crisis after Independence and the most challenging external strategic environment following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Indeed, many believed at the time that the two crises were related. That India’s economic difficulties had been magnified by the loss of its most trusted ally. Apart from these two challenges, there was communal tension and terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. Finally, there was a need to heal an internal political divide caused by the “Mandal” issue of reservations for backward castes.

That a non Nehru-Gandhi family person could lead the Congress party through such turbulent times and give the party five years of power, and the country five years of economic stability, is in itself a political achievement of considerable importance. Narasimha Rao went on to take proactive steps to renegotiate India’s relations with its neighbours and major powers. Those who point to corruption scandals during his tenure would do well to consider the sheer scale and magnitude of corruption today, both in the Central and various state governments. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has often acknowledged, Narasimha Rao provided a political backbone to the team led by Dr Singh in ushering in far-reaching economic reforms. He famously told the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus, that he would implement whatever reforms were needed for the country as long as no worker became jobless. He dubbed this stance as the Congress’ “middle path” in his famous presidential address to the Tirupathi session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Narasimha Rao’s “middle path” is, in fact, what “inclusive growth”, the current buzzword, is all about. All in all, Narasimha Rao deserves better than what he has thus far secured by way of remembrance from the nation and his own party, of which he was lifelong member, general secretary and president. If M G Ramachandran deserved a Bharat Ratna, why not a Narasimha Rao?!