He was the unlikeliest of revolutionaries. Here is where Rao’s story gets complex—and why history has been unkind. Rao was a devout Brahmin who understood the scriptures. When the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 (during his tenure), history has largely blamed him for "weakness" or "complicity."
We remember the man who liberalized India, but we rarely remember the man who did the liberalizing. It was June 1991. India was bankrupt. Literally. The country had just 15 days worth of foreign exchange reserves left. The treasury was so empty that the government had to pawn its gold reserves to stay afloat. The Soviet Union, our largest trading partner, was collapsing. Chaos reigned. sthanam narasimha rao
In a country that loves to deify its leaders, Rao remains the exception. Walk down any major street in Delhi, Mumbai, or Hyderabad, and you will find statues of political dynasts, freedom fighters, and regional strongmen. But you will rarely find a statue of the man who actually pulled India out of the economic dark ages. He was the unlikeliest of revolutionaries
He is the man who "opened" Israel without formally recognizing it (relations were established in 1992). He brought the "Look East" policy to life, pivoting India toward ASEAN nations, predicting the rise of China and the need for India to counterbalance it decades before it became fashionable. The Congress party, for a long time, neglected him because he wasn't from the "Gandhi family." He was a regional leader who rose on merit. After his tenure ended in 1996, and the Congress lost the election, Rao was sidelined. Worse, he was implicated in a bribery scandal (the JMM bribery case—from which he was later acquitted), and the party distanced itself from him. When the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992
But history must record this:
Rao took the political bullet for the reforms. He faced down his own party (which had historically been socialist), the labor unions, and the opposition. He ended the "License Raj." He dismantled protectionism. He opened the gates to foreign investment.