India: How Bharat Ratna awardee PV Narasimha Rao nearly left politics before becoming Indian PM

Former prime ministerPV Narasimha Rao Garu will be honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement on X on February 9.

Praising PV Narasimha Rao's leadership, PM Modi wrote, "During his time as prime minister, Rao took important steps to open India to international trade and promote a new phase of economic growth. As a leader who not only guided India through significant reforms but also enhanced its cultural and intellectual legacy, his contributions to the foreign policy, language, and education sectors further highlight his multifarious legacy."

In an effort to pull the nation out of an increasingly dire economic situation, Manmohan Singh was appointed Finance Minister by Rao during his administration.

Six times a member of parliament, Rao passed away in 2004 at the age of 83.

Who was PV Narasimha Rao?

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao, who served as India's ninth prime minister, was a lawyer and a prominent Congress leader in the then-undivided state of Andhra Pradesh. Rao remained as the PM of the countryfrom 1991 to 1996.

Globalisation, liberalisation, and privatisation were the three major economic changes implemented by Narasimha Rao's government in 1991, a time when India was experiencing a crisis in its foreign reserves.

Rao was born in a Telugu Niyogi Brahmin family in the Laknepalli village of Narsampet mandal, Warangal. He participated in the Vande Mataram movement in Hyderabad during the late 1930s as a freedom fighter.

He entered politics full-time after independence. In 1957, he won his first election as an MLA andheld numerous ministerial roles in the state administration until 1971, whenhe was appointed as Andhra Pradesh's chief minister.

He was seen as a devoted supporter of Indira Gandhi and backed her when the Congress splitinto two in 1969.

He was close to retiring in 1991, but after Prime Minister and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, he returned to active politics.

After the incident, Rao was approached by senior Congressman Pranab Mukherjee, who informed him that everyone believed Rao ought to be the next Congress President.

Rao wrote in his diary that ‘it would be good to clinch it today itself, so as to forestall rumours of internal struggle etc,’ as mentioned in ‘The Man Who Remade India: A Biography of PV Narasimha Rao’, by Vinay Sitapati.

Rao was elected President of the Congress on May 29, 1991. Hetook over as prime minister the following month as the party staged a comeback in national elections, gaining 232 of 487 seats.

It may be noted, he was also the first Congress PM outside the Nehru-Gandhi family.

(With inputs from agencies)