This day in 1991, I presented the bold budget: Manmohan Singh remembers Narasimha Rao on his centenary birth celebrations

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 24

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday inaugurated the birth centenary celebrations of late prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, remembering how this very day 29 years ago he presented the historic union budget that ushered economic liberalisation in India.

Narasimha Rao was born on June 28, 1921.

Manmohan Singh described Rao as an important member of the Congress, who worked closely with late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and later led the party to a 244-seat lead in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections that were held after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Speaking at the first formal event the Congress ever organised in the memory of Rao, Manmohan Singh said: “I am particularly happy that this programme has been organised on the day I had the privilege, as the Finance Minister of India, for presenting the first budget of Narasimha Rao Ji’s government in 1991.”

Manmohan Singh hailed Rao for his bold leadership and ability to carry everyone along as he said: “It was a budget that ushered in economic reforms and liberalisation. It was a hard choice and a bold decision and it was possible because Prime Minister Narasimha Rao Ji gave me the freedom to roll out things, after he fully understood what was ailing India’s economy at that time.”

Often in his speech, Manmohan Singh spoke of late Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao in the same breath as here when he said: “Like Rajiv Ji, Narasimha Rao Ji, too, had great concern for the poor and had told the then Managing Director of the IMF, Mr Michel Camdessus, that reforms in India would have to be mindful of Indian concerns. Economic Reforms were preceded by a push in that direction when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister.”

What Manmohan Singh stressed though was that the 1991 budget was politically a big question.

“The question was if one could take hard decisions to meet the challenging situation. It was a precariously placed minority Government, dependent on outside support.  Yet Narasimha Rao Ji was able to carry everyone along, convincing them with his conviction. Enjoying his confidence, I went about my job to carry forward his vision,” said Singh calling Rao the

father of Economic Reforms in India.

Mindful of the troubled relationship between the Congress under Sonia Gandhi and Rao (whose body was not allowed to be brought to AICC headquarters for last respects when he died) Singh today spoke of the late PM as being “an important member of the Congress party, working very closely with Indira Ji and Rajiv Ji”.

Manmohan Singh said Rao was chosen to be the Congress president after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, halfway through the 1991 Lok Sabha election.

“The party ended up winning 244 Lok Sabha seats. Though Narasimha Rao Ji himself did not contest the elections but had been the Congress President, he became the automatic choice to become the Prime Minister of India on June 21, 1991. It was on this day that he made me his Finance Minister,” recalled former PM Manmohan Singh.

Hailing equally Rao’s contributions to “Look East Policy” and the Indian Space programme, Singh spoke also of how his late guide “always tried to take the opposition into confidence”.

Here, Manmohan Singh cited Rao deputing Atal Bihar Vajpayee Ji as the leader of the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva to discuss Pakistan-sponsored resolution to censure India on its record of human rights in Jammu & Kashmir.

“The resolution was successfully thwarted. Rao ji also nominated Subramaniam Swamy as Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade, with a Cabinet-rank,” Manmohan Singh mentioned in his speech at the virtual event.

Earlier, Congress president Sonia Gandhi also sent a message in the memory of Rao calling him “scholarly, erudite and bold” and speaking of how the Congress takes “pride in his many achievements”.

Rahul Gandhi’s message also hailed Rao for his contributions to economic reforms.