Manmohan Singh prepared the blueprint but it was Narasimha Rao who provided vital political support, said former RBI Governor C Rangarajan

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor C. Rangarajan asserted here on Thursday that Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was the true architect of economic reforms and he had articulated them in a manner compatible to the Congress Party.

Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister did lead the charge but it was PV who provided the vital political support. Anyone doubting his credentials as a reformist should only look at the Eighth Five Year Plan report where it showed that Narasimha Rao was totally behind the reform process, including delicensing of industries and the liberalised trade regime, he said.

At the same time Dr. Singh’s role too should be acknowledged because he prepared the blue print and his role should not be underestimated. “It is this duo that took up the reforms,” he said at the book release function ‘1991- How P.V. Narasimha Rao made history’ authored by former information advisor to PM Dr. Sanjaya Baru. He gave the first copy released here to Dr. Baru’s father B.P.R. Vithal, noted bureaucrat-economist.

Momentous event

Dr. Rangarajan praising the book as “gripping and unputdownable” rubbished the notion that the reforms were actually initiated in the mid-80s and also growth rates started increasing from then. While the V.P. Singh Government “was not willing to take any action” to improve the economy, the Chandrasekhar Government could not have taken reforms to the next level, he observed, asserting that it was PV, who removed the shackles on the economy in 1991 with bold steps, as no other PM did. Yet, a moment of indecision in Babri Masjid case in 1992 should also be pointed out, he added.

Earlier, Dr. Baru said 1991 was the “next momentous event after 1947” because the change brought about by PV in the spheres of economy, politics and foreign policy of the post-Nehruvian era. He charged the Congress Party with completely forgetting Narasimha Rao and even going to the extent of removing his photo from the website and deleting his speech as president at the Tirupati meet where he spoke about the reforms.

Ex-Planning Commission member Dr. CH Hanumantha Rao said Rao was a grassroots politician and hence, always advocated growth with social equity. Communications advisor to AP Government Dr. Parkala Prabhakar recalled his family association with PV and said he was a “quiet subversive” in turning everything upside down in economic thought, politics, foreign policy, etc. Novelist-writer Karri Sriram moderated the discussion.