Ironic it may sound though, despite ushering in the Economic Reforms in 1991, P V Narasimha Rao, whose 103rd Birth Anniversary falls on June 28, was never a reformer, in the strict sense of the term. Since his days in the 1940s with his political mentor, Swami Ramanand Tirth, PV has remained a steadfast Socialist by persuasion and never changed his ideology.
This is reflected in his work as Undivided Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister from 1971 to 1973; as Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996; besides his Paper on Liberalization and the Public Sector at the AICC Plenary Session in Bengaluru in 2001, presided over by the then Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Narasimha Rao never felt that the Nehruvian Model of Development had failed or that it has to make way for a Liberalization-Privatization-Globalization (LPG) regime. This is a deliberate canard sought to be spread by the BJP, or its cohorts in the Congress.
In fact, the BJP Government chose to confer the highest civilian honour of Bharat-Ratna recently on P V Narasimha Rao, calculated to project him as someone who repudiated the Nehruvian Ideology, including the Nehruvian Model of Development and the Nehruvian Foreign Policy initiatives like Panchsheel, Commonwealth and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Nothing can be fartherest from truth than this claim of the BJP.
In his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1992, P V Narasimha Rao invoked the Middle Path of the Buddha. Implicit in it was the emphasis that there was neither extreme Left nor extreme Right position in the Economic Reforms.
In fact, in his Davos speech, PV chose to dwell on the merits of the Mixed Economy introduced by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Conclusively PV made it clear to the world that there is no rolling back of the Nehruvian Model of Development.
Actually, the Economic Reforms in India were wholly premised on the Nehruvian postulates. During his tenure, PV issued detailed guidelines on how to go about with Disinvestment, not Privatization. Equity should be sold to public sector banks, Government Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), or to the PSU workers, in keeping with Indira Gandhi’s 20-Point Programme that envisaged workers participation in management.
Narasimha Rao’s worst fears came true when under the Vajpayee and the Modi Dispensations, Public Sector Undertakings are being handed over on a platter to the Private Sector and, that, too, in the name of Liberalization and Economic Reforms.
Trouble started with the Vajpayee Government in 1998, which turned the existing policy, initiated by P V Narasimha Rao in 1991, on its head by brazenly advocating Privatization in place of Disinvestment, which was never envisaged when Economic Reforms were introduced in 1991. Only the mix in the Mixed Economy changed, but not the policy of Mixed Economy initiated by Nehru.
By stealth, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee removed Disinvestment and, in its place, brought in the expression Privatization, for the first time, in a bid to shift the blame on to Narasimha Rao, to project as the Architect of LPG Regime, who repudiated the Nehruvian Model.
Under the Vajpayee Government, sale of two properties of Centaur in Mumbai came under the lens of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG). The CAG said the hotels were undersold and the sale conditions were relaxed to help the final bidder. In the case of Centaur Juhu , the Disinvestment Ministry intervened to help facilitate financing of the deal. Sale of the Airport Centaur was to the Batras, with alleged links to the RSS.
PV dubbed the undervaluation and underselling of the PSUs as selling the family silver to pay the grocer’s bill.
Similarly, PV expressed doubts over privatization of airports. In October, 1947, because Srinagar Airport was under Government control, troops could be airlifted in time to push back Pakistani invasion. This may not have been possible if the airports were in private hands and if they dilly-dally, resulting in loss of precious time.
The basic, underlying philosophy was to mobilize resources through the economic reforms process and to spend the money on the vulnerable and the poorer sections of society, in order to help raise their standards of living.
As part of the Human Face of the New Economic Policy, for the first time Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), was launched, which was developed into Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). For Bunkars, he developed schemes. Rural artisans tools kit were brought out.
Sonia Gandhi followed the same line during the Congress-led UPA Government from 2004-2014 period. As a result, like MGNREGA, several programmes on these lines were implemented, including the Aajeevika Mission of training for women with Bank loans facility to help promote sustainable livelihoods; National Food Security Act; and Right to Education.
P V Narasimha Rao subscribed to the socialistic pattern of society resolution brought by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the Avadi Session of the AICC in 1955. PV brought in the landmark and revolutionary Land Ceiling Act during his tenure as the Undivided Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister in 1973, which was borrowed by his then Odisha counterpart Nandini Satpathy, for replication in her State. Later, PV worked closely worked with Indira Gandhi, who was responsible for the inclusion Socialism and Secularism in the Preamble of the Constitution, through the Constitution 42nd Amendment in 1976.
In the AICC Plenary in Bengaluru in 2001, PV circulated a 10-page paper on Liberalization and the Public Sector authored by him, setting the record straight on the very issue that there is no departure from the Nehruvian Model of Development. In fact, PV drew a distinction of the Congress Government policy of partial Disinvestment in the PSUs, from the outright sale by the Vajpayee Government.
PV argued that a Government that did not even have a majority in Parliament had no right to make an irrevocable sale of public property worth Rs 200,000 crore. Disapproving of Air-India sale, PV said, “It is most unfortunate that the Government should be thinking of selling Air-India and Indian Airlines. I simply cannot think of India selling off her National Carrier which carries the National Flag.”
PV was emphatic that Liberalisation in India did not ipso facto mean conversion of the Public Sector into Private Enterprise, although it did mean a vast enlargement of Private Enterprise to coexist with the existing Public Sector. PV further argued that his Government had clearly told prospective investors not to eye the existing Public Sector for takeover, but to concentrate on starting new industries to fulfil large requirements not covered by the Public Sector.
During the 10th year Anniversary of the Economic Reforms he ushered in, PV was invited to deliver a speech. Then, he reportedly sought from the Congress the Talking Points for his speech on the occasion. The AICC Economic Department headed then by Dr Manmohan Singh, drafted the Note and gave it to PV.
An upset PV is understood to have junked that Note, as he felt it militates against the Congress party line. Interestingly, some of the Congress leaders subscribe more to the BJP line than their own Congress party line, even to this day.
PV strongly disagreed with the idea of Disinvestment popularly being propagated then as outright sale of PSUs. Some of the Congress leaders were virtually toeing the BJP line.
During the passing of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) in 1973, Indira Gandhi was open to reducing Government equity to 49 per cent to encourage private players, without changing the basic tenets of Socialism. But it met with strong resistance from the Socialist Brigade in the Congress and Indira Gandhi had to drop the move. So, there was nothing new that PV was attempting to do, as part of the Economic Reforms.
As part of the Human Face of the New Economic Policy, for the first time PV brought in the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) in 1995. Later, Sonia Gandhi developed the EAS into Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) during the Congress-led UPA Government.
For Bunkars or Weavers, PV developed special schemes to protect their interests. To help rural artisans, Tools Kits were brought out for them.
Sonia Gandhi followed the same line during the Congress-led UPA Government from 2004-2014 period. As a result, like MGNREGA, several programmes on these lines were implemented, including National Food Security Act and Right to Education.
The basic, underlying philosophy was to mobilize resources through the economic reforms process and to spend the money on the vulnerable and the poorer sections of society, in order to help raise their living standards.
In Foreign Policy, PV was an adherent and votary of the pioneer of the Indian Foreign Policy. When Indira Gandhi organized the Commonwealth Summit and NAM Summit in New Delhi in 1983, she had PV as her External Affairs Minister. It was only after these two events that Indira Gandhi made him the Union Home Minister, to deal with extremism in Punjab reaching a flashpoint at that point in time.
As Prime Minister, PV worked along Nehruvian Foreign Policy postulates. Following Panchsheel evolved by Nehru in the Sino-Indian context in 1954, PV signed with China the Agreement on Peace and Tranquility Along the LAC in September, 1993.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first to Look East, with his Bandung Conference in 1955. Following the Nehruvian lead, PV ushered in the Look East Policy.
India had robust relations with these countries during the Nehruvian years. Relationships with these countries suffered a setback during the Cold War and PV wanted to rebuild the Indian relations with these countries, following the end of the Cold War.
In fact, the Economic Reforms, for him, was more a necessary evil in a given historical context. In 1989, the economy nosedived during the tenure of the BJP-Left Front-backed National Front Government of V P Singh.
Things came to such a pass that sovereign gold had to be physically airlifted and transferred into the vaults of the Bank of England, by his predecessor Government. To credit, PV did manage to redeem during his tenure and bring it back to India.
During that period, India had a handicap. Owing to her level of development, aid was not forthcoming for India. Resources for development had to be mobilized internally.
It was against such a backdrop that Rajiv Gandhi had asked PV, as Congress Election Manifesto Committee Chairman in 1991, to draw up a Blueprint for Economic Reforms.
Following the tragic assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in the midst of the Mid-Term Elections in 1991, PV went on to become Congress President and after the electoral victory, he became the Prime Minister and Implemented the Economic Reforms as the legatee of Rajiv Gandhi.
PV never believed in the Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) credo. As it is widely perceived, Narasimha Rao never thought that Socialism had “failed” or that it had to be abandoned in favour of Economic Reforms.
Far from it, Narasimha Rao believed in the Human Face of the New Economic Policy and worked hard to create a Safety Net for the lesser fortunate sections of the society, till whom the fruits of Economic Reforms did not reach, primarily benefitting the top rich and, in a way, opening up newer avenues for the Middle-Class.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
