Hyderabad: The year-old long birth centenary celebrations of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao began here on Friday with eminent personalities including former President of India Pranab Mukherjee and ex-Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh participating in the virtual meeting organized by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).
The main event was held at Indira Bhavan in Gandhi Bhavan premises and it was connected online with Zoom App which had nearly 1,000 guests including former Union Ministers P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh. The event was broadcast live on social media platforms and displayed at giant screens at all DCC offices and other places.
The TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, PV centenary birthday celebrations committee chairperson J.Geeta Reddy, honorary chairman of the committee V.Hanumantha Rao vice-chairman D.Sridhar Babu, Convenor Mahesh Goud and I the party leaders took part in the celebrations.
Speaking on the occasion, TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy hailed the services rendered by the former PM PV to the party and the country in different capacities. He said that PV who was born in vangara village of Undivided Karimnagar district went to become the prime minister of the country after beginning his career as an ordinary worker.
He said that he was very close to PV personally. He said that the credit behind introducing the land reforms in the country goes to the former PM and added that PV had remained a congress leader till his last breath.
Reddy said that they had passed a resolution urging the central government to confer Bharata Ratna on the former PM. He said that the economic reforms introduced by PV had saved the country from the economic crisis while recalling the union budget introduced by PV’s government on July 24, 1991.
He said that the term of the PV as the PM had witnessed several political, social and external affairs successes.
CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that PV had become the PM of the country without any muscle and money power. He said that the Congress party had given such a high position to PV in recognition of his services.
He also said that Indira Gandhi has changed the life of PV. He recalled that PV had become the PM with the approval of AICC following the recommendation of the party president Sonia Gandhi. He said that no other leader had got the respect received by PV from south India.
PV is our leader, our pride; Sonia Gandhi
Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi today said that former PM Narasimha Rao was not only the foot soldier and the leader of the party but would always remain its. pride.She said that the party would hold the birthday celebrations of the former PM for a period of one year.
She also said that the party would come into power in Telangana state in 2023 by taking inspiration from PV. She made these remarks during her address at the PV Narasimha Rao centenary celebrations held in the city by TPCC.
The party president Sonia Gandhi and her son and MP Rahul Gandhi also sent her personal message to the TPCC for conducting the celebrations. In her message, Sonia Gandhi said that the party was celebrating the legacy of a man whose contribution continues to shape modern India. She skis said that the remarkable journey of PV from joining the Congress party as a teenager and becoming the PM of the largest democracy reflected his grit and determination.
In his message, Rahul Gandhi said that PV had become the PM of the country at a time when the country was witnessing a grave economic crisis and added that the country’s ability to overcome many challenges successfully.
Narasimha Rao was one of the greatest PM: Pranab Mukherjee
Addressing the virtual meeting, former President of India Pranab Mukherjee recalled that almost three decades ago Narasimha Rao presented the first budget with Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister which brought radical reforms in the Indian economy. “Narasimha Rao was known for his path-breaking ability to do something which sometimes appeared to be impossible to do. As the Chief Minister of combined Andhra Pradesh, he introduced massive land reforms in a State which was dominated by feudal. It was an act of courage. He brought radical reforms to bring dynamism in the economy. He always went away from traditionalism,” he said.
Pranab Mukherjee pointed out that it was former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who inducted C.D. Deshmukh, a former civil servant, into his cabinet as the Finance Minister. After Pandit Nehru, it was Narasimha Rao who brought Manmohan Singh, ex-RBI Governor, into his cabinet to implement radical reforms in the economy, he said.
The former President of India said that Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister at a crucial time when the economy was in bad shape and the situation was such that Foreign Exchange Reserves plummeted to just one billion US dollars which were well enough to support about two weeks of import. There was also political instability. “In fact, for over a decade after Indira Gandhi Ji’s death, there was political uncertainty and there was a tendency to form a government through a coalition of parties. On one side, he provided stability and on the other, he revived the economy,” he said.
Pranab Mukherjee said that he was known to Narasimha Rao since the 1970s when the latter became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. “He was made an AICC General Secretary to strengthen the Congress party. When Indira Gandhi returned to power and formed a government in 1980, she thought it would be prudent to make Narasimha Rao a foreign minister. He was entrusted with this job which he performed excellently. In the very initial stage, he had to handle a tricky situation in Sri Lanka where the Tamils and Non-Tamils were in a fierce fight due to the beginning of the movement for Tamil Elam. He handled it patiently. He also recognized the need for having peaceful co-existence with China as we have a long border with China in the North-Eastern part,” he said.
“Narasimha Rao became the Congress president and then the Prime Minister after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He managed both the offices effectively. He made huge contributions to build this nation. Sometimes it appeared that he was taking late decisions. But actually it was not late. He patiently waited for creating a consensus over the disputed areas of his decision making and he succeeded in that. Narasimha Rao was one of the great Prime Minister of India. He led the Congress party in difficult times,” he said adding that Narasimha Rao belonged to India, all of India and not only a part of his birthplace Telangana.
PV is a role model: Former PM Manmohan Singh
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today termed his predecessor PV Narasimha Rao as a role model to the people of the country. He said that he always felt happy to introduce the first annual union budget of his life as the finance minister of the country in former PM PV’s cabinet. He said that PV was a great PM, who had introduced economic reforms in the country.
Manmohan made these remarks while addressing a meeting held to celebrate the centenary birthday celebrations of PV through the Zoom app. Speaking on the occasion he said that PV had taken brave decisions when the country was going through critical times. He said that the economic condition of the country had improved due to the reforms introduced by the PM. He also said that Rao was a great leader, who had introduced land reforms in the undivided AP state. Former union minister P. Chidambaram expressed his happiness at the Organization of the celebrations. He said that PV had encouraged him a lot in politics. He said that he has a very in-depth association with the former PM.
He recalled that PV has encouraged him a lot when he was a youth congress leader. Chidambaram said that the industrial policy of the former PM was unforgettable and added that PV had given a lot of thrust to the welfare of the people of the country.
Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that PV used to joke that except the finance department he had worked in all the ministries of the government. He also said that PV used to request his party colleague Pranab Mukherjee to help him in the issue of economic reforms. Ramesh recalled that PV used to rebut the criticism of opposition political parties in his own style and added that PV would always receive the criticism of his rivals in a statesman’s spirit. He said that although PV had received a lot of criticism for his reforms, he said that the same reforms had brought good results to the country.
