![]() ![]() There is no other reformer in the world who has achieved this much with so little. For a man like that, to bring about the kind of transformation he did, there is no parallel in world history. He ran a minority government in Parliament. ![]() Also, remember that Rao had a weak mandate. ![]() In the 1996 elections, he campaigned on the plank of welfare schemes because the beneficiaries of liberalisation only come in later. ![]() In my judgment, Rao did not sell reforms. There is no other explanation.īut, I also think Rao realised early on that while liberalisation was important, it did not have a political constituency. All the big reforms we talk about in terms of implementation - opening up of consumer goods, FIIs (foreign institutional investors) entering the market, opening up of airlines, telecom, infrastructure - happened after 1992. So, why continue with the reforms? That’s not pragmatism. One must remember that by February 1992, the crisis was over. Photograph: PTI.ĭ id this pragmatic streak survive? You seem to suggest that he turned his back on reforms before the elections of 1996. IMAGE: Vice President M Hamid Ansari (R) releasing the book on P V Narasimha Rao titled Half-Lion, authored by Vinay Sitapati (L), in New Delhi. ![]()
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