In Bharat Ratna for P.V. Narasimha Rao, PM Modi delivers a message full of political meaning

Congress leadership has long been uneasy with Narasimha Rao’s legacy as the first full-term non-Gandhi PM; for many, his economic, foreign policy reforms were eclipsed by the Babri Masjid’s demolition on his watch

The Narendra Modi-led government often looks across the political aisle to award state honours, and the announcement of a Bharat Ratna for former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao could be part of that pattern; but Rao’s legacy, and his complicated relationship with his own party, the Congress, also makes this a decision pregnant with political meaning.

Both Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed the announcement of the honour on Friday, but the Congress leadership has long been uneasy with the first non-Gandhi PM from the party to complete a full term.

Mr. Modi has often pointed out that the Congress, and especially the Nehru-Gandhi family, has not “recognised the talent” of those outside the pale of their approval, including Rao. At a public meeting in Telangana, Rao’s home State, he said, “This land gave the country a Prime Minister in the form of P.V. Narasimha Rao. But the Congress’ royal family didn’t like it and insulted him every stop of the way. That is not all. Even after Rao’s death, the Congress’ royal family did not leave a single opportunity to insult Rao.”

Rao, who was PM of a Congress-led government between 1991 and 1996, came to the post following the tragic assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in the middle of the 1991 poll campaign, an election that Rao himself had kept away from, preparing for a fade out from public life. A long career in the Congress had seen Rao become the Minister for External Affairs and Home Affairs, and he was packing to leave Delhi during that turbulent campaign of 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi’s death upended everything. Various factions of the Congress wanted different leaders to become PM after the results were announced, and after the newly bereaved Ms. Gandhi herself refused the post. The choice devolved to Rao.

He came to the helm at a time of great churn, both economic and political, with both the balance of payments crisis and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement hanging fire. While Rao, along with his hand-picked Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, skilfully steered India on the path of economic reforms, the Babri Masjid was also brought down on his watch in 1992, a grievance that many Congressmen held against Rao till the end of his days. His ability to provide cover to policy makers to implement the reforms needed to get the country out of a deep economic hole was only matched by the changes he effected in India’s foreign policy, including the Look East policy. For the Congress, however, all this was eclipsed by the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

After his accession to the PM’s post, there were many instances when Ms. Gandhi and Rao did not see eye to eye — with some of their differences attributed to personal reasons, some political — and when the Congress lost the general election in 1996, the blame was laid at his feet.

In any case, Rao’s twilight years were outside the purview of the Congress. When he passed away, just eight months after the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government came to power, the manner of his last rites became an open wound between Rao’s family and friends and the Congress party. In his 2014 book, The Accidental Prime Minister, Mr. Singh’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru claimed that the Congress did not want Rao’s cremation to take place in Delhi, but rather in Hyderabad, and that he had been approached to convey this to Rao’s children. Dr. Baru kept his own counsel, but the cremation did take place in Hyderabad, with Rao’s body not even laid in state at the All India Congress Committee’s headquarters.