A man of great depth

My last encounter with the late Narasimha Rao was a year ago when all of us ex-PMs met at Chandrashekhar’s house. As the conversation w...

My last encounter with the late Narasimha Rao was a year ago when all of us ex-PMs met at Chandrashekhar’s house. As the conversation went well into the evening, Santosh Bharati, a close associate, suggested I recite some of my recent poetry. I was a little shy. Finally, it was Rao who convinced me to do so. He said it was important for people to realise that politicians are men of letters too, that it was imperative to correct the not-so-flattering image of the political class.

His suggestion grew into a full-fledged poetry session, which was organised at Parliament Annexe. It goes to Rao’s credit that he was able to turn a spontaneous evening into a meaningful event. He was a man of letters, accomplished in many languages, and of great depth.

But Rao was a shrewd politician too, and an ace diplomat, which stood him in good stead. He will go down in history as the only prime minister who, with a minority, managed a government for its full five-year term.

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While Rao and I met more as ex-PMs rather than when we were colleagues in the Congress — he was Education Minister and I was Finance Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government — we did differ on many issues facing the country.

On the Babri Masjid issue, I firmly believed Rao should have upheld the SC order and taken over the mosque, for it was important to assert the authority of the Republic. I even cautioned him: What would happen if the then UP CM, Kalyan Singh, resigned in the morning? But Rao trusted the BJP. Was there a motive to allow the masjid to fall? No, it was a lapse on his part.

He is hailed as the Father of Reforms, but I was in favour of first strengthening domestic industry before throwing open the doors to foreign competition. It is important to look from the rooftop rather than from the window, to tackle poverty and globalisation. But when the history of India’s economic development is written, Rao will be featured prominently as one who ushered in the era of liberalisation. Did we fall short of expectations? Yes, we all did fall a little short, but only history can give the judgement.

(As told to Vrinda Gopinath)

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