Thank You, Prime Minster!

Indian leadership hardly inspires confidence; leave alone offer scope for accolades. In the midst of mediocrity that has been a hall mark of Indian leaders, there was one leader India chooses to forget conveniently. He goes by the name P.V. Narasimha Rao, hardly a man, going by Indian conventional wisdom be termed as a great leader. But as I look back, he indeed was the Chanakya of India, who skillfully maneuvered to various degrees of success the minefield that is India and its myriad problems.

Narasimha Rao was one of the most erudite individuals to ever to have occupied the highest post of the land. As one of my previous posts noted, Rao was the architect of India's vaunted economic reforms (not that insipid economist called Manmohan Singh), the fruits of which we now all enjoy today. He skillfully navigated the temple of Indian Fabian socialism that is the Parliament as he went about liberalizing the economy and challenging the status quo, a task rarely accomplished by an Indian leader since Independence. Viewed in the context of the additional handicap of leading the Congress and India without a 'Gandhi' surname Narasimha Rao’s achievements acquire an additional halo. His other strategic achievements for India, while far less appreciated but as important were his opening up of ties with Israel. Indian governments since (the moron) Nehru have had this skewed world view when it comes to the Middle East and Israel- Palestine problem. With a patently absurd view of secularism, eyes on the local minority vote bank and a holier than thou moralist stance, India needlessly treated Israel like a pariah. Rao once again challenged the status quo as he opened bilateral relations, the import of which struck us during the Kargil war, when Israel was the one of the few nations that helped us in the time of need.

Under the leadership of K.P.S Gill and Beant Singh, Narasimha Rao lead what was India's most telling and crushing blow to organized state sponsored terrorism in Punjab. He literally saved the Indian Union from dismemberment. His intelligent and strategically significant dealings with India's neighbors including China, his belief in the Indian State and his single minded focus on strengthening it without any fuss makes him a leader par-excellence.

Narasimha Rao's no-nonsense way of looking after the interests of the Indian nation state is worth comparing to the various ways Indian governments in the past and present have handled such issues. Indian leaders have generally frittered away their (rare) successes and looked incapable of changing the status-quo in a positive way. Manmohan Singh could well learn a less or two from his earlier master in ways of managing India and looking after its interests without bending over backwards to play up to the gallery (both foreign and local).

The image of Narasimha Rao as portrayed by India’s English language media does no justice to his contributions to the Indian state. Indian media have this starry eyed look when it comes to the fake Gandhi family and its "achievements". Even to this day, when a certified college dropout like Rahul Gandhi (he does not have a single worthwhile degree) gets on stage and mouths inanities, or when a Priyanka Vadra rattles of nonsense our media is cast spell bound. Contrast this to the actual achievements of Rao, his ill-treatment by Congress 'netas' both inside and outside power and by the English language media, we have an idea of how unsung a hero this man was. Critics of Rao, (which our liberal media is full off) tar him with the usual brush of the Babri demolition, JMM scam etc while silently overlooking similar but more significant follies of our ‘great’ leaders of yesterday and today. The low points of his tenure pale into insignificance when looked in comparison to the successes he achieved for the Indian nation state. No Indian leader actually left the office with a proud legacy, a string of achievements that pan many generations and yet go unheralded the way this diminutive man was. This post is my small way of saying 'Thank You' to a really great soul!