00:00Welcome to Sam Vignettes. My name is Uday Bhaskar. In this episode, we would like to recall India's former Prime Minister, the late PV Narasimha Rao.
00:15Today, December 23rd is the death anniversary of former Prime Minister, PV Narasimha Rao. He passed away on this day in 2004 and in many ways, it was a very tragic way in which he passed away and he was not accorded.
00:45The respect and the dignity that should have been given to a man of his stature. But that, of course, is another story about the Congress Party and the government of the day in terms of how they treated Mr. Narasimha Rao when he died.
01:15As I said, it's a sad story. It should not have happened, but it did.
01:18But my reason for recalling him today is that while he has often been held up as the person who ushered in the liberalization, the economic liberalization of India with his trusted finance minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the time.
01:38I think another facet of Mr. Narasimha Rao, or PVNR as he was affectionately called, was his contribution in the strategic and security domain.
01:50To recall very briefly, he held the portfolio of defense minister thrice, albeit once for a very short time.
01:59And the most significant was when he was prime minister and defense minister for about two and a half years when Mr. Sharad Tawar, then defense minister, moved to Maharashtra.
02:15And it was a very turbulent time.
02:20India was facing a number of challenges on the economic and fiscal front.
02:25Internally, there were many challenges in Kashmir and Punjab elsewhere.
02:30But to his credit, he was very sagacious.
02:36And as I see it, the most significant contribution at that time was the manner in which he dealt with the post-Cold War turbulence that India had to deal with when the Soviet Union collapsed, imploded, and there was no Soviet Union.
02:53At that time, he was able to open a window with China.
02:58Mr. Jiang Zemin was at the helm of affairs in Beijing at that time.
03:03The 1993 accord with China is a very important one in ushering peace and tranquility on the border.
03:10And the other was the manner in which he dealt with the relationship with the United States.
03:16I think it merits recall that it was under his watch that the first agreement was made for cooperation with the United States, which was then, of course, taken to its logical course by his successors, that is, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.
03:37So, when we recall India's most consequential Prime Minister, the late Shri P. V. Narasimha Rao, I think we must also note that apart from the economic liberalization, his contribution in the security strategic domain was equally significant, but perhaps not attractive.
04:06It is not acknowledged or recognized as it ought to be.
04:13Om Shanti.
04:15Narasimha Rao, Garu.
04:17We remember you with gratitude.
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