A man who lived by treachery and betrayal finally met his comeuppance through treachery and betrayal. That would be one assessment of the life and times of P.V. Narasimha Rao. However, the judgement needs to be qualified if we are to be fair to a politician who led the Congress to its worst ever electoral defeat, stabbed his colleagues in the front and back but also set the country along the path of economic reform and liberalisation.
His competence was never in doubt. But when Rao took over as Congress president in May 1991 and as prime minister a month later, there was an element of uncertainty. Could a 70-plus leader who had undergone a bypass surgery provide stability? The people were yet to recover from the assassinations of two leaders, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, in seven years, and the prospect of another change with the economy in ruin deepened the gloom.
Rao's initial attempt to rule through consensus won him accolades even from the main Opposition. Rao's new economic policy, which replaced the Nehruvian model, was hailed by the international community. Then, he held elections in Punjab after five years of Central rule.
Fighting hard to steer the Congress out of the Gandhi dynasty's grip, Rao injected an element of inner-party democracy by holding organisational elections in April 1992—after a gap of 20 years. But soon after, Rao seems to have strayed into a path of political chicanery.
He frittered away the goodwill he earned as he concentrated on securing a majority in Parliament. First, he caused a split in the Telugu Desam; then, he targeted the 59-member Janata Dal. But what made him the villain of the piece was perhaps the Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992—this after repeated assurances that the monument would be protected at all costs. Besides harming his image, this also upset the Congress' secular credentials. By then, the BJP had long ceased to be a friend.
With a new-found arrogance, Rao went about securing his position in the party, trampling over friends and foes. In August 1993, Rao and his cronies engineered support for his minority government during a no-trust vote by allegedly bribing Opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MPs.
Then came one scandal after another—securities scam, hawala, telecom et al. Even after one of his sons was implicated in the securities scam, Rao refused to be careful. In all, 19 ministers resigned on corruption charges and the scams put together involved a staggering Rs 50,000 crore. That the Congress was blossoming as a 'corrupt' party under Rao became evident when he convinced partymen to abstain en bloc during the voting on the impeachment of a Supreme Court judge found guilty of corrupt practices.
While the good work in Punjab and in the economy continued, thanks to the autonomy he gave to Beant Singh and Manmohan Singh, Rao showed no consistency in establishing inner-party democracy. He forgot all about organisational elections and continued to hold his party post beyond the two-year tenure. He increasingly alienated the party cadre and his colleagues, most of whom deserted him as soon as they got a whiff of change. Rao began his premiership with a promise of consensus on all major issues, but once he got a majority, he stayed away from Parliament.
When Rajesh Pilot demanded action against godman Chandraswami, and senior ministers charged Rao with framing them in the hawala case, he called a Youth Congress rally where these leaders were ridiculed. Rao refused to constitute the Congress Parliamentary Board for the six years he was at the helm, solely exercising its power. As for Kesri, he never moved alone to isolate Rao—he always took the CWC's advice. In the end, Rao, always the loner, lost the race and was left alone.
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