Dr. Manmohan Singh has accepted all the applause…

Dr. Manmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister of India, is credited with the economic reforms initiated by him in 1991 as Finance Minister under former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. If he was the primary reformer then, what happened to him and his reforms once he himself became the Prime Minister on May 22, 2004? Manmohan Singh, and his United Progressive Alliance (UPA), is at a standstill since he took over as the Prime Minister of India. We must address this dilemma.

The fact of the matter is that it was Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao who facilitated the ‘Economic Reforms’ of 1991 by appointing a non-political economist, Dr Manmohan Singh, as the Finance Minister of India. Not only did Narasimha Rao appoint Dr Singh as the finance minister, but he also provided Manmohan Singh the political cover necessary to carry forward the reforms and actually got them through the Indian Parliament. Dr Singh must share the applause with Narasimha Rao.

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao was the tenth Prime Minister of the Republic of India. He was born on June 28, 1921 in Karimnagar District of Andhra Pradesh. Rao joined the ‘Indian Freedom Movement’ as a member of the erstwhile Indian National Congress. He was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh between 1971 and 1973. Narasimha Rao sided with Indira Gandhi when Congress split in 1969. He served Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as her Home Minister, Defence Minister and the Foreign Minister during 1980-1984. He also served her son, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in similar positions. He was contemptuously referred to as a political ‘Dandy’ during those days, because of his polite demeanor.

Fate intervened in 1991when Congress President Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated and Narasimha Rao was catapulted to the Prime Minister’s position. He led a minority government from June 21, 1991 till May 16, 1996. He led one of the most important administrations in India’s modern history, overseeing a major economic transformation and a political consensus. Besides being called the “Father of the Economic Reforms” he was also referred to as the “Chanakya” of modern India.

What is wrong with Rahul Gandhi?

The 38 year old Rahul Gandhi (born on June 19, 1970), President of the Indian National Congress, is the son of Sonia Gandhi and the former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi (Aug 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991). He was only eighteen when his grandmother, Indira Gandhi (Nov 19, 1917 – Oct 31, 1984) was assassinated by her security guards. At the age of 21, he witnessed another gruesome murder of his father by the militants of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Rahul Gandhi appears to be in no hurry to become the next Prime Minister of India. Now what is wrong with that?

There are many of us in the private sector (self-employed), who resented the selection of Indira Gandhi as the fourth Prime Minister of India on January 24, 1966. We felt at the time, that she was the least qualified candidate to be a Prime Minister. Before us, our parents were not exactly thrilled with Mahatma Gandhi’s imposition in making Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Nov 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964) the first Prime Minister of India. The generation before us felt that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a better candidate to be the first Prime Minister in 1947. The main opposition to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty existed because of their socialistic ideas, alien to a free-market Indian ethos. That was a long time back.

Indira Gandhi was a very controversial Prime Minister. She was admired for her guts in times of war. She was resented because of her authoritarian rule, including a brief but extremely contentious, ‘State of Emergency’. She was politically far left to the center and believed in big government. Because of these traits, she was defeated in the 1977 general elections. She was the first sitting Prime Minister in 30 years to be rejected by the people of India. She learnt her lesson fast and came back to power in 1980 with the fall of the Janata Government. She was assassinated on October 31, 1984 because of Sikh agitation. Suddenly there was a power vacuum and her son and heir apparent, Rajiv Gandhi became the next Prime Minister. For some of us this was a blow to our democratic instincts. This was truly a dynastic rule.

The people of India gave Rajiv Gandhi the benefit of doubt. He appeared honest but tentative. Soon he called for the General Elections, he received the sympathy vote and for the first time, congress received 411 seats in the parliament. This was a super majority and he could do what ever he wanted. He started off well, dismantling the License-Permit-Raj his mother had built. But too much power corrupted him and his government fast. He became the darling of the West but lost the confidence of India. He was defeated in 1989 elections. Rajiv Gandhi was killed on May 21, 1991 while campaigning.