PV Narasimha Rao finds new recognition, in Telangana

PV Narasimha Rao is getting recognition at last, with Telangana deciding to honour the former Prime Minister posthumously.

The newly carved State has declared that his birthday, June 28, will be celebrated henceforth as a State event.

On Saturday, all officials, including the Governor, will participate in the celebration of his birthday.

Following the formation of Telangana on June 2, the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) Government has been looking for unique cultural symbols and identities for the State. First came a new logo. Then the plan to declare Bonalu as a State festival. Celebrating the birthday of PV, as he was popularly known, is a similar move.

Father of reforms Virtually disowned by the Congress high command and barely recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Congress under YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the former PM has been ‘resurrected’ by the TRS, which rode to power in the May 2014 Assembly elections.

PV was India’s first and only Telugu Prime Minister. Hailing from Vangara in Karimnagar district (now in Telangana), he is credited with ushering in economic reforms. Interestingly, PV was the first PM outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to complete a full five-year term.

Of course, in addition to laying the foundation for economic reforms and pulling the country out of a fiscal crisis in the early 1990s, his rule was also replete with corruption charges and allegations of political manipulations to stay in power.

PV was also the first Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh (1971-72) hailing from the Telangana region after the violent Telangana movement of 1969-70.

In a paradox of sorts, non-Congress parties have been more forthcoming in acknowledging PV’s contributions.

His legacy was very recently invoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP during the 2014 election campaign.

Generous gesture Over two decades ago, TDP founder and former AP Chief Minister NT Rama Rao (NTR), in a rather generous gesture, decided not to field a candidate against PV in Nandyal of Kurnool district.

PV was seeking to enter the Lok Sabha, having emerged as the consensus candidate following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. NTR called PV a Telugu bidda — a pride for the State and Telugus.

The manner in which the scholar, linguist, author and seasoned political leader was denied a space for cremation/memorial in Delhi and the way his last rites were handled in Hyderabad were used by the BJP to attack the Congress and its ‘design’ to ‘insult’ Telugu pride.

Seeing how rival parties are fully ‘utilising’ PV’s memory, maybe the Congress will now take some steps to bring back the legacy of one of its most important and prominent leaders.