P. V. Narasimha Rao

"Narsimha Rao" redirects here. For other use, see Narasimha Rao.

P. V. Narasimha Rao
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Prime Minister Rao in 1992
Prime Minister of India
In office
21 June 1991 – 16 May 1996
President
Vice President
Preceded byChandra Shekhar
Succeeded byAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Additional ministries
In office
21 June 1991 – 16 May 1996
Ministry and Departments
Preceded byChandra Shekhar
Succeeded byAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Union Minister of Defence
In office
6 March 1993 – 16 May 1996
Prime Ministerhimself
Preceded byShankarrao Chavan
Succeeded byPramod Mahajan
In office
31 December 1984 – 25 September 1985
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Preceded byRajiv Gandhi
Succeeded byShankarrao Chavan
11th Union Minister of External Affairs
In office
31 March 1992 – 18 January 1994
Prime Ministerhimself
Preceded byMadhavsinh Solanki
Succeeded byDinesh Singh
In office
25 June 1988 – 2 December 1989
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Preceded byRajiv Gandhi
Succeeded byV. P. Singh
In office
14 January 1980 – 19 July 1984
Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi
Preceded byShyam Nandan Prasad Mishra
Succeeded byIndira Gandhi
18th Union Minister of Home Affairs
In office
12 March 1986 – 12 May 1986
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Preceded byShankarrao Chavan
Succeeded bySardar Buta Singh
In office
19 July 1984 – 31 December 1984
Prime Minister
  • Indira Gandhi
  • Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded byPrakash Chandra Sethi
Succeeded byShankarrao Chavan
4th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
In office
30 September 1971 – 10 January 1973
GovernorKhandubhai Kasanji Desai
Preceded byKasu Brahmananda Reddy
Succeeded byPresident's rule
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
15 May 1996 – 4 December 1997
Preceded byGopinath Gajapati
Succeeded byJayanti Patnaik
ConstituencyBrahmapur, Odisha
In office
20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996
Preceded byGangula Prathapa Reddy
Succeeded byBhuma Nagi Reddy
ConstituencyNandyal, Andhra Pradesh
In office
31 December 1984 – 13 March 1991
Preceded byBarve Jatiram Chitaram
Succeeded byTejsinghrao Bhosle
ConstituencyRamtek, Maharashtra
In office
23 March 1977 – 31 December 1984
Preceded byconstituency established
Succeeded byChendupatla Janga Reddy
ConstituencyHanamkonda, Andhra Pradesh
Member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office
1957–1977
Preceded byGulukota Sriramulu
Succeeded byChandrupatla Narayana Reddy
ConstituencyManthani
Personal details
Born(1921-06-28)28 June 1921
Laknepalli, Hyderabad State, British India
(present-day Telangana, India)
Died23 December 2004(2004-12-23) (aged 83)
New Delhi, India
MonumentsGyan Bhumi
Political partyIndian National Congress
Spouse
Satyamma
​
​
(m. 1931; died 1970)​
Children8, including P. V. Rajeshwar and Surabhi Vani Devi
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician
  • writer
AwardsBharat Ratna (2024, posthumous)

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004), popularly known as P. V. Narasimha Rao, was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician from the Congress Party who served as the Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first person from South India and second person from a non-Hindi speaking background to be the prime minister. He is especially known for introducing various liberal reforms to India's economy by recruiting Manmohan Singh as the finance minister to rescue the country from going towards bankruptcy during the economic crisis of 1991.[1][2][3] Future prime ministers continued the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government.[4][5]

Prior to his premiership, he served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and later also held high order portfolios of the union government, such as Defence, Home Affairs and External Affairs. In 1991 Indian general election, the Indian National Congress led by him won 244 seats and thereafter he along with external support from other parties formed a minority government with him being the prime minister. As prime minister, Rao adopted to avert the impending 1991 economic crisis,[3][6] the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans.[7] Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States, and China.[8][9][10] He energised the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles programme.

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.[11][12][13] He remains a controversial figure in his party due to alleged role during and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and also for having a bitter relation with the Nehru–Gandhi family,[14][15][16] and he was sidelined later by his own party,[17] Nevertheless, retrospective evaluations have been kinder, positioning him as one of the best prime ministers of India in various polls and analyses.[18][19][20][21][22][23] In 2024, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award by the Government of India.[24]

  1. ^ Dean, Adam (2022), "India's Middle Path: Preventive Arrests and General Strikes", Opening Up by Cracking Down: Labor Repression and Trade Liberalization in Democratic Developing Countries, Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions, Cambridge University Press, pp. 86–112, doi:10.1017/9781108777964.006, ISBN 978-1-108-47851-9, archived from the original on 9 February 2024, retrieved 29 October 2022
  2. ^ "PV Narasimha Rao Remembered as Father of Indian Economic Reforms". voanews.com. VOA News. 23 December 2004. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Narasimha Rao led India at crucial juncture, was father of economic reform: Pranab". The Times of India. 31 December 2012. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Narasimha Rao – a Reforming PM". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 23 December 2004. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  5. ^ Arvind Kumar, Arun Narendhranath (3 October 2001). India must embrace unfettered free enterprise Archived 12 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Daily News and Analysis.
  6. ^ "India's Pathway through Financial Crisis" (PDF). globaleconomicgovernance.org. Arunabha Ghosh. Global Economic Governance Programme. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ Time To Tune In To FM Archived 29 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine. Indiatoday.com (25 February 2002). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  8. ^ Upadhyaya, Shishir (5 September 2019). India's Maritime Strategy: Balancing Regional Ambitions and China. Routledge. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-429-67375-7. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  9. ^ Singh, S. Nihal (21 October 1993). "Opinion | India Keeps Its Foreign Options Open". The New York Times. International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  10. ^ Goshko, John M. (20 May 1994). "Clinton Moves To Ease Relationship With India". Washington Post. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  11. ^ V. Venkatesan (14 January 2005). "Obituary: A scholar and a politician". Frontline. 22 (1). Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  12. ^ "PV Narasimha Rao Passes Away". tlca.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  13. ^ How PV became PM Archived 29 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Hindu, 2 July 2012.
  14. ^ "क्या नरसिम्हा राव बाबरी मस्जिद गिरने से बचा सकते थे?". BBC News हिंदी (in Hindi). Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  15. ^ "Narasimha Rao performed puja during demolition of Babri Masjid: Book". The Times of India. 5 July 2012. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  16. ^ "Bharat Ratna for P V Narasimha Rao: Congress's Achilles heel, the PM it 'forgot'". The Indian Express. 9 February 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  17. ^ "PV Narasimha Rao, a forgotten prime minister". Livemint. 21 June 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Half Lion: Resurrecting Narasimha Rao". Times of India Blog. 26 July 2016. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  19. ^ Raman, B (27 December 2004). "Narasimha Rao: Our finest PM ever?". Rediff. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  20. ^ Biswas, Soutik (25 July 2016). "Reassessing India's 'forgotten PM'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  21. ^ Padmanabhan, Anil (7 October 2016). "Why Narasimha Rao is suddenly a star". Livemint. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  22. ^ Gupta, Shekhar (23 December 2018). "Why Narasimha Rao is India's most vilified, deliberately misunderstood and forgotten PM". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  23. ^ Pushkarna, Vijaya (26 September 2019). "The PMs who shaped India". The Week. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  24. ^ Mishra, Samiran (9 February 2024). "Bharat Ratna For Former PMs Charan Singh, PV Narasimha Rao". NDTV. Retrieved 15 April 2024.