P.V. Narasimha Rao is best remembered as the first Prime Minister of India outside the Nehru Gandhi family to serve in the office for complete five years. He was also the first politician from South India to hold this position and rule for a full term. By winning the elections with a majority of 5 lakh votes, Narasimha set a new record in the books. Implanting major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting the national security of India were just a few of his achievements made during his service in politics. He is known as the “Father of Indian Economic Reforms and Chanakya by some people for his magnificent and phenomenal contribution towards industrialization and economic and political legislation. However, just like every coin has two sides, so did P. V Narsimha Rao’s term as a Prime Minister - the nation witnessed the Babri Masjid destruction in Ayodhya, thereby declaring his term as an eventful one in India’s history. Besides, he was the talk of the town in association with several corruption and scandal charges.
Early Life
P.V. Narasimha Rao was born as Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao to P. Kanga Rao and Rukminiamma in a decent agrarian Niyogi Brahmin family. He was born in Laknepally village of Warrangal district in Andhra Pradesh, but was shifted to Vangara village in Karimnagar district at the age of 3. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Arts from Osmania University and master’s degree in law from Fergussan College from University of Mumbai . Though his mother tongue was Telugu, Narasimha he could speak Marathi very fluently. Apart from eight Indian languages, he also had a good hold of English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Greek, Latin, and Persian. He began editing a Telugu weekly magazine titled Kakatiya Patrika in the 1940s, along with distant cousin Pamulaparti Sadasiva Rao, Ch. Raja Narendra, and Devulapalli Damodar Rao. Narasimha and Sadasiva wrote article under the pen name Jaya-Vijaya.
Political career
Narasimha Rao served as an active freedom fighter during the Indian independence movement and joined politics full time instantly after India attained independence. He became a member of the Indian National Congress and served as a follower of Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, Chief Minister of Hyderabad State. In 1951, he became the member of the All India Congress Committee and thereafter, a member of the State Legislative Assembly . He held several important portfolios, such as the Minister of Law and Information from 1962 to 64, Law and Endowments from 1964 to 67, Health and Medicine in 1967, and Education from 1968-71 under the Government of Andhra Pradesh. After holding various ministerial positions in Andhra Pradesh, Narasimha was elected as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1971. His election surprised several people, regarding a Brahmin holding taking up the position of a Chief Minister. With the split of Indian National Congress in 1969, Narasimha favored Indira Gandhi and continued to be loyal to her during the Emergency and until her death. By 1985, he had gained immense popularity across India for holding several portfolios under the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He served as the Minister of External Affairs from 1980 to 84, Minister of Home Affairs in 1984, and Minister of Defence from 1984 to 85. Thereafter, he assumed the post of Minister of Human Resource Development in 1985.
Achievements in National Security
It was due to Narasimha Rao is efforts in national nuclear security and ballistic missiles program that India successfully carried out the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. These tests were believed to be initialized during Rao term, but were declined due to American pressure when the US intelligence sensed them. Further, it was also alleged that Rao himself leaked the information to get more time to develop and test the thermonuclear device which was not ready by that time. He increased the amount spent on military training and courses to train the army for terrorism and insurgencies. He directed necessary steps to increase the national security of the nation and handled the Indian response to the terrorist seizure at Hazratbal holy shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. Rao undertook several agreements with foreign countries, like Western Europe, the United States, and China. Even the relations with Israel were made public which were otherwise secret until 1992. With this, Israel was allowed to open an embassy in New Delhi. Narasimha Rao also received much admiration with his marvelous dealing of crisis management after March 12, 1993 Bombay bombings. He visited Bombay personally and asked US, UK, and other West European countries to send their intelligence officers to Bombay to investigate the facts and involvement of Pakistan in the blasts.
Later Life
After Narasimha Rao completed five years as the Prime Minister of India in 1996, the Congress Party was defeated badly in the general elections. He served as the President of Congress Party until September 1996, after which Sitaram Kesri replaced him. Under his leadership, Rao maintained an authoritarian stance on the party and the members, which led to exit of various prominent Congress leaders, the most popular amongst them being Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, Mamata Banerjee, G.K. Moopanar, and P. Chidambaram. In spite of being a popular political face, Rao suffered from financial troubles with his son’s education being financed by one of his son-in-law. He also found it difficult to educate his daughter for medicine. As per PVRK Prasad, an IAS officer and media advisor of Rao was asked to sell Rao’s Banjara Hills property to pay the dues of all advocates.
Death
Narasimha Rao suffered from a heart attack on December 9, 2004 and was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He struggled for 14 days and breathed his last on December 23. Despite his family’s request to cremate the body in New Delhi, Rao’s body was refused entry in AICC headquarters and hence, was taken to Hyderabad where it was displayed at the Jubilee Hall. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and the then Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram were amongst the many celebrities and dignitaries who attended his funeral. He was cremated with full honor by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy.
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