Political leaders remember PV on birth anniversary

New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and several leaders across party lines on Wednesday remembered late Prime Minister Narasimha Rao on his birth anniversary and lauded his contributions to the nation’s progress.

Remembering the former prime minister, Modi said his far-sighted leadership and commitment to India’s development was noteworthy. “Remembering Shri PV Narasimha Rao Ji on his birth anniversary. His far-sighted leadership and commitment to India’s development was noteworthy. We honor his invaluable contributions to our nation’s progress,” he tweeted.

The BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya hit out at the Congress and alleged that the grand-old party “suddenly” remembers him on his birth anniversary because Telangana elections are round the corner. “After disparaging former Prime Minister and Congress president PV Narasimha Rao for decades, Congress suddenly remembers him on his birth anniversary because Telangana elections are round the corner,” the BJP leader said in a tweet.

“Let us not forget that Sonia Gandhi denied him dignity. His mortal remains were not allowed to be placed in the Delhi Congress headquarters for people to pay their last respects. Let alone be given a resting place or memorial in Delhi, his family was asked to hold final rites in what was then undivided Andhra Pradesh,” Malviya charged.

The BJP leader alleged Rao was the “architect of India’s liberalisation and economic reforms” but the Congress “humiliated him, spared no attempts to obliterate his legacy”. It was 10 years after his death that Rao got a memorial at Rashtriya Smriti in Delhi during Prime Minister Modi’s term, he added. “Even Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, did not find it appropriate to pay his respects at Narasimha Rao’s memorial in Hyderabad, when it was stone’s throw away from the route he was on,” Malviya charged.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress also paid humble tribute to the former prime minister and said Rao was a distinguished statesman who “reinvented” India, both at home and abroad. “On his birth anniversary, we remember the former PM of India, P V Narasimha Rao, who introduced some noteworthy liberal reforms to the Indian economy. Today, we pay a humble tribute to Mr Rao, a distinguished statesman who reinvented India, both at home and abroad,” the party said. Congress president Kharge said Rao’s tremendous contribution towards economic transformation of India and nation building “shall always be cherished”. Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Rao was not just a tall leader, who was respected across party lines, but was also the first Congress PM from “outside the dynasty” to complete a successful five-year term in office.