Pamulaparti Venkata "Narasimha Rao" (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, politician, and activist who served as the ninth Prime Minister of India (1991–1996).^[1] He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India.^[2] Rao who held the Industries portfolio was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj as this came under the purview of the Industries Ministry.^[3] He is often referred to as the "Father of Indian Economic Reforms".^[4] Rao accelerated the dismantling of the license raj, reversing the socialist policies under the government of Rajiv Gandhi. He is best remembered for employing Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh launched India's globalization angle of the reforms that implemented the IMF policies to rescue the almost bankrupt nation from economic collapse.^[3] Rao was also referred to as Chanakya for his ability to steer tough economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a minority government.^[5][6]

Rao's term as Prime Minister was an eventful one in India's history. Besides marking a paradigm shift from the industrializing, mixed economic model of Jawaharlal Nehru to a market driven one, his years as Prime Minister also saw the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a major right-wing party, as an alternative to the Indian National Congress which had been governing India for most of its post-independence history. Rao's term also saw the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya which triggered one of the worst Hindu-Muslim riots in the country since its independence.^[7] Rao died in 2004 of a heart attack in New Delhi. He was cremated in Hyderabad.^[8]

Early life[link]

P.V. Narasimha Rao had "humble social origins".^[5] He was born in 28 June 1921 at Laknepally village -Near Narsampet in Warangal District to a Niyogi Telugu Brahmin family. At the age of 3 years he was adopted and brought up to Vangara village in the present-day Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh (then part of Hyderabad state, British India).^[5][9] His father P. Ranga Rao and mother Rukminiamma hailed from agrarian families.^[5]

Narasimha Rao was popularly known as PV. He studied Bachelor's in the Arts college at the Osmania University and later on went to Fergusson College now under University of Pune where he completed a Master's degree in law^[10] His mother tongue was Telugu and had an excellent grasp on Marathi. In addition to eight Indian languages (Telugu, Hindi, Urdu, Oriya, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil), he spoke English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Greek, Latin and Persian.^[11] Along with his distant cousin Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao, Ch. Raja Narendra and Devulapalli Damodar Rao, PV edited a Telugu weekly magazine called Kakatiya Patrika in the 1940s.^[12] PV and Sadasiva Rao used to contribute articles under the pen-name Jaya-Vijaya.^[12][13]

Narasimha Rao has three sons and five daughters. His eldest son P.V. Rangarao was an education minister in Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy cabinet and MLA from HanmaKonda Assembly Constituency for two terms. His second son P.V. Rajeshwar Rao was a Member of Parliament of the 11th Lok Sabha (15 May 1996-4 December 1997) from Secunderabad Constituency.^[14][15]

Political career[link]

Narasimha Rao was an active freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement^[9] and joined full time politics after independence as a member of the Indian National Congress. Narasimha Rao served brief stints in the Andhra Pradesh cabinet (1962–1971) and as Chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh (1971–1973).^[16] His tenure as Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is well remembered even today for his land reforms and strict implementation of land ceiling acts in Telangana region. President rule had to be imposed to counter the 'Jai Andhra' movement during his tenure.

When the Indian National Congress split in 1969 Rao stayed on the side of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and remained loyal to her during the Emergency period (1975–77).^[11] He rose to national prominence in 1972 for handling several diverse portfolios, most significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs (1980–1984), in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.^[16] In fact it is speculated that he was in the running for the post of India's President along with Zail Singh in 1982.^[17]

Rao very nearly retired from politics in 1991. It was the assassination of the Congress President Rajiv Gandhi that made him make a comeback.^[18] As the Congress had won the largest number of seats in the 1991 elections, he got the opportunity to head the minority government as Prime Minister. He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years, the first to hail from southern India and also the first from the state of Andhra Pradesh.^[2][19] Since Rao had not contested the general elections, he then participated in a by-election in Nandyal to join the parliament. Rao won from Nandyal with a victory margin of a record 5 lakh (500,000) votes and his win was recorded in the Guinness Book Of World Records.^[20][21] His cabinet included Sharad Pawar, himself a strong contender for the Prime Minister's post, as defence minister. He also broke convention by appointing a non-political economist and future prime minister, Manmohan Singh as his finance minister.^[22][23]

Achievements[link]

Economic reforms[link]

Rao's major achievement is generally considered to be the liberalization of the Indian economy. The reforms were adopted to avert impending international default in 1991.^[24] The reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Rao's government's goals were reducing the fiscal deficit, Privatization of the public sector, and increasing investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilizing external loans. Rao wanted I.G. Patel as his finance minister.^[25] Patel was an official who helped prepare 14 budgets, an ex-governor of Reserve Bank of India and had headed The London School of Economics and Political Science.^[25] But Patel declined. Rao then chose Manmohan Singh for the job. Manmohan Singh, an acclaimed economist, played a central role in implementing these reforms.

Major reforms in India's capital markets led to an influx of foreign portfolio investment. The major economic policies adopted by Rao include:

• Abolishing in 1992 the Controller of Capital Issues which decided the prices and number of shares that firms could issue.^[24][26]

• Introducing the SEBI Act of 1992 and the Security Laws (Amendment) which gave SEBI the legal authority to register and regulate all security market intermediaries.^[24][27]

• Opening up in 1992 of India's equity markets to investment by foreign institutional investors and permitting Indian firms to raise capital on international markets by issuing Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).^[28]

• Starting in 1994 of the National Stock Exchange as a computer-based trading system which served as an instrument to leverage reforms of India's other stock exchanges. The NSE emerged as India's largest exchange by 1996.^[29]

• Reducing tariffs from an average of 85 percent to 25 percent, and rolling back quantitative controls. (The rupee was made convertible on trade account.)^[30]

• Encouraging foreign direct investment by increasing the maximum limit on share of foreign capital in joint ventures from 40 to 51 percent with 100 percent foreign equity permitted in priority sectors.^[31]

• Streamlining procedures for FDI approvals, and in at least 35 industries, automatically approving projects within the limits for foreign participation.^[24][32]

The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and investment raised on international capital markets) in India grew from a minuscule US $132 million in 1991-92 to $5.3 billion in 1995-96.^[31] Rao began industrial policy reforms with the manufacturing sector. He slashed industrial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing. Industrial regulation was rationalized.^[24]

National security, foreign policy and crisis management[link]

Rao energized the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles program, which ultimately resulted in the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. It is speculated that the tests were actually planned in 1995, during Rao's term in office,^[33] and that they were dropped under American pressure when the US intelligence got the whiff of it.^[34] Another view was that he purposefully leaked the information to gain time to develop and test thermonuclear device which was not yet ready.^[35] He increased military spending, and set the Indian Army on course to fight the emerging threat of terrorism and insurgencies, as well as Pakistan and China's nuclear potentials. It was during his term that terrorism in the Indian state of Punjab was finally defeated.^[36] Also scenarios of plane hijackings, which occurred during Rao's time ended without the government conceding the terrorists' demands.^[37] He also directed negotiations to secure the release of Doraiswamy, an Indian Oil executive, from Kashmiri terrorists who kidnapped him,^[38] and Liviu Radu, a Romanian diplomat posted in New Delhi in October 1991, who was kidnapped by Sikh terrorists.^[39] Rao also handled the Indian response to the occupation of the Hazratbal holy shrine in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists in October 1993.^[40] He brought the occupation to an end without damage to the shrine. Similarly, he dealt with the kidnapping of some foreign tourists by a terrorist group called Al Faran in Kashmir in 1995 effectively. Although he could not secure the release of the hostages, his policies ensured that the terrorists demands were not conceded to, and that the action of the terrorists was condemned internationally, including by Pakistan.^[41]

Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States, and China.^[42] He decided in 1992 to bring into the open India's relations with Israel, which had been kept covertly active for a few years during his tenure as a Foreign Minister, and permitted Israel to open an embassy in New Delhi.^[43] He ordered the intelligence community in 1992 to start a systematic drive to draw the international community's attention to alleged Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism against India and not to be discouraged by US efforts to undermine the exercise.^[44][45] Rao launched the Look East foreign policy, which brought India closer to ASEAN.^[46] He decided to maintain a distance from the Dalai Lama in order to avoid aggravating Beijing's suspicions and concerns, and made successful overtures to Tehran. The 'cultivate Iran' policy was pushed through vigorously by him.^[47] These policies paid rich dividends for India in March 1994, when Benazir Bhutto's efforts to have a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir failed, with opposition by China and Iran.^[48]

Rao's crisis management after the 12 March, 1993 Bombay bombings was highly praised. He personally visited Bombay after the blasts and after seeing evidence of Pakistani involvement in the blasts, ordered the intelligence community to invite the intelligence agencies of the US, UK and other West European countries to send their counter-terrorism experts to Bombay to examine the facts for themselves.^[49]

Challenges faced in office[link]

Economic crisis and initiation of liberalization[link]

Rao decided that India, which in 1991 was on the brink of bankruptcy,^[50] would benefit from liberalizing its economy. He appointed an economist, Dr. Manmohan Singh, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as Finance Minister to accomplish his goals.^[2] This liberalization was criticized by many socialist nationalists at that time.^[51]

Rise in separatist movements[link]

Rao has successfully decimated the Punjab separatist movement and neutralized Kashmir separatist movement. In dealing with Kashmir Rao's government was highly restrained by US government and its president Mr.Clinton. Rao's government introduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA),^[52] India's first anti-terrorism legislation, and directed the Indian Army to eliminate the infiltrators.^[53] Despite a heavy and largely successful Army campaign, the state descended into a security nightmare. Tourism and commerce were largely disrupted. Special police units were often accused of committing atrocities against the local population, Rape, kidnapping, torture and detention under false accusations.^[54]

see also Separatist movements of India

Babri Mosque riots[link]

In the late 1980s, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought the temple issue to the centerstage of national politics, and the BJP and VHP began organising larger protests in Ayodhya and around the country

Members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demolished the Babri Mosque (which was constructed by India's first Mughal emperor, Babar) in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992.^[55] The site is believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama and is believed by the Hindu Community to be a place of a Hindu temple created in the early 16th century. The destruction of the disputed structure, which was widely reported in the international media, unleashed large scale communal violence, the most extensive since the Partition of India. Hindus and Muslims were indulged in massive rioting across the country, and almost every major city including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal struggled to control the Unrest.^{[citation needed]}

Later Liberhan Commission, after extensive hearing and investigation, exonerated PV Narasimha Rao. It pointed out that Rao was heading a minority government, the Commission accepted the centre’s submission that central forces could neither be deployed by the Union in the totality of facts and circumstances then prevailing, nor could President’s Rule be imposed "on the basis of rumours or media reports". Taking such a step would have created "bad precedent" damaging the federal structure of and would have "amounted to interference" in the state administration, it said. The state “deliberately and consciously understated" the risk to the disputed structure and general law and order. It also said that the Governor’s assessment of the situation was either badly flawed or overly optimistic and was thus a major impediment for the central government. The Commission further said, "... knowing fully well that its facetious undertakings before the Supreme Court had bought it sufficient breathing space, it (state government) proceeded with the planning for the destruction of the disputed structure. The Supreme Court’s own observer failed to alert it to the sinister undercurrents. The Governor and its intelligence agencies, charged with acting as the eyes and ears of the central government also failed in their task. Without substantive procedural prerequisites, neither the Supreme Court, nor the Union of India was able to take any meaningful steps."^[56]

In yet another discussion with journalist Shekhar Gupta, Rao answered several of the questions on the demolition. He said he was wary of the impact of hundreds of deaths on the nation, and it could have been far worse. And also he had to consider the scenario in which some of troops turned around and joined the mobs instead. Regarding dismissal of Kalyan Singh (government), he said, "mere dismissal does not mean you can take control. It takes a day or so appointing advisers, sending them to Lucknow, taking control of the state. Meanwhile, what had to happen would have happened and there would have been no Kalyan Singh to blame either."^[57]

Latur earthquake[link]

A strong earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra, also killed 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in 1993.^[58] Rao was applauded by many for using modern technology and resources to organize major relief operations to assuage the stricken people, and for schemes of economic reconstruction.^{[citation needed]}

Corruption scandals[link]

In July 1993, Rao's government was facing a no-confidence motion, because the opposition felt that it did not have sufficient numbers to prove a majority. It was alleged that Rao, through a representative, offered millions of rupees to members of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and possibly a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal, to vote for him during the confidence motion. Shailendra Mahato, one of those members who had accepted the bribe, turned approver. In 1996, after Rao's term in office had expired, investigations began in earnest in the case. In 2000, after years of legal proceedings, a special court convicted Rao and his colleague, Buta Singh (who is alleged to have escorted the MPs to the Prime Minister).^[59] Rao appealed to a higher court and remained free on bail. The decision was overturned mainly due to the doubt in credibility of Mahato's statements (which were extremely inconsistent) and both Rao and Buta Singh were cleared of the charges in 2002.^[60]

Rao, along with fellow minister K.K. Tewary, Chandraswami and K.N. Aggarwal were accused of forging documents showing that Ajeya Singh had opened a bank account in the First Trust Corporation Bank in St. Kitts and deposited $21 million in it, making his father V.P. Singh its beneficiary. The alleged intent was to tarnish V.P. Singh's image. This supposedly happened in 1989. However only after Rao's term as PM had expired in 1996, was he formally charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the crime. Less than a year later the court acquitted him due to lack of evidence linking him with the case.^[61]

Lakhubhai Pathak, an Indian businessman living in England alleged that Chandraswami and K.N. Aggarwal alias Mamaji, along with Mr. Rao, cheated him out of $100,000. The amount was given for an express promise for allowing supplies of paper pulp in India, and Pathak alleged that he spent an additional $30,000 entertaining Chandraswami and his secretary. Rao and Chandraswami were acquitted of the charges in 2003,^[62]

Later life and financial difficulties[link]

In the 1996 general elections Rao's Congress Party was badly defeated and he had to step down as Prime Minister. He retained the leadership of the Congress party until late 1996 after which he was replaced by Sitaram Kesri. According to Congress insiders who spoke with the media, Rao had kept an authoritarian stance on both the party and his government, which led to the departure of numerous prominent and ambitious Congress leaders during his reign.^{[citation needed]}

Rao rarely spoke of his personal views and opinions during his 5-year tenure. After his retirement from national politics Rao published a novel called The Insider (ISBN 0-670-87850-2). The book, which follows a man’s rise through the ranks of Indian politics, resembled events from Rao’s own life.

According to a vernacular source, despite holding many lucrative posts he faced many financial troubles. One of his sons was educated with the assistance of his son-in-law. He also faced trouble in paying fees for a daughter of his who was then studying medicine.^[63] According to PVRK Prasad, an IAS officer who was Narasimha Rao's media advisor when the latter was Prime Minister, Rao asked his friends to sell away his house at Banajara hills to clear the dues of advocates.^[64] Rao was afraid of dying before clearing his dues to the lawyers.

Rao suffered a heart attack on 9 December 2004, and was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he died 14 days later at the age of 83.^[65]

Death[link]

He was cremated with full state honours in Hyderabad, after the then Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy intervened.^[66] His body was kept in state at the Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad. His funeral was attended by the incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L.K. Advani, the Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and many other dignitaries.^[67]

Surprisingly and curiously, there are speculations that the Indian National Congress President did not want PV to be cremated in New Delhi befitting the national status given to a former prime minister.

Rao's legacy and the current Congress leadership[link]

Rao remains by far the best prime minister india has ever had. His contributions include launching the break through economic reforms in 1991 , doing most of the ground work for nuclear tests , which led to 1998 nuclear tests, resolving the punjab issue peacefully , calming the mandal commission mess created by V P Singh, architect of INDIA 's look east policy which will have major implications in the 21 st century, open up to united states, open diplomatic relations with Israel, resolve the hazrat bal issue without giving into terrorists to name a few. It has been noted that the current leadership of the Congress party attempts to undermine Rao's legacy by denying him the credit for fostering economic reforms in India. For instance, it is reported that in a speech to mark the 125th anniversary of the Congress, the party president Sonia Gandhi "made it a point to ignore P.V. Narasimha Rao".^[68][69] It is also reported that^[70]

"Sonia Gandhi praised contributions of all Congress prime ministers except P V Narasimha Rao in her speech......Making no mention of Rao in her 15-minute speech, she said Rajiv Gandhi scripted the course of economic policies that were followed by the government (headed by Rao) for the following five years."

Several commentators argue that while Rao should be rightly blamed for his failure to protect the Babri Masjid, at the same time, he should be given credit for initiating the process of economic reforms in India. In an op-ed article published in Business Standard, A.K. Bhattacharya writes:^[71]

"Even today, the Congress leadership shows extreme reluctance to acknowledge the role PV Narasimha Rao played in appointing Manmohan Singh as his finance minister and giving him the freedom to unveil the economic reforms package to bail the Indian economy out of an unprecedented crisis. The Congress leadership was correct in blaming Narasimha Rao for his political misjudgment on the Ayodhya issue. But it is now time the same leadership also acknowledged Narasimha Rao’s role in ushering in economic reforms."

In similar vein, Harsh V. Pant argues:^{[72] [73]}

"Clearly as Prime Minister Rao failed in his duty to protect the disputed structure in Ayodhya......Rao's failure cannot be an excuse to deprive him of all the credit that is his due as the nation's prime minister at one of the most difficult times in India's contemporary history......Manmohan Singh is touted as the father of Indian economic reforms but as Singh has himself acknowledged it was Rao was fathered the process......Rao deftly navigated the political waters......and made economic reforms politically tenable. How ironical then that today the same Congress party functionaries......trying to take credit for India's economic success without acknowledging the role of Rao who envisioned and executed the process?"

Historian Ramachandra Guha asserts that Rao has become "the great unmentionable" in the Congress party. In an op-ed article in The Telegraph (Calcutta), Guha writes:^[74]

"Narasimha Rao may be denied the credit by the present Congress leadership for taking the Indian economy well above the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ of two to three per cent per annum. But they do not let the public forget his greatest defeat, which was his failure to stop the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December, 1992......From the point of view of the present Congress leadership, Rao’s problem was not just that he was not a Nehru-Gandhi, it was also that as prime minister he did not genuflect enough to the Nehru-Gandhis......Now that the Nehru-Gandhis once more control both party and government, P.V. Narasimha Rao has become the great unmentionable within Congress circles. I should modify that statement — Rao can be mentioned only if it is possible to disparage him. Thus his contributions to economic growth and to a more enlightened foreign policy are ignored, while his admittedly pusillanimous attitude towards the kar sevaks in Ayodhya is foregrounded......To forget his achievements, but to remember his mistakes, is a product of cold and deliberate calculation."

Commenting on the report of the Liberhan Commission, which exonerated Rao for his role in the Babri Masjid demolition, Indian Express editor Shekhar Gupta writes:^[75]

"He surely failed as prime minister to prevent the tragedy at Ayodhya. But his rivals in the Congress did their own party such disservice by spreading the canard that his (and their) government was responsible for that crime. This, more than anything else, lost them the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar......any dispassionate reading of recent political history will tell you that this is a self-inflicted injury. The Congress has itself built a mythology whereby the Muslims have come to hold their party as responsible for Babri as the BJP......If you take Justice Liberhan’s indictment of so many in the BJP seriously, you cannot at the same time dismiss his exoneration of Rao, and the government, and the Congress Party under him. You surely cannot put the clock back on so much injustice done to him, like not even allowing his body to be taken inside the AICC building. But the least you can do now is to give him a memorial spot too along the Yamuna as one of our more significant (and secular) prime ministers who led us creditably through five difficult years, crafted our post-Cold War diplomacy, launched economic reform and, most significantly, discovered the political talent and promise of a quiet economist called Manmohan Singh."

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: P. V. Narasimha Rao

• P. V. Narasimha Rao - A Profile
• Obituary - Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao
• THE JMM CASE
• Frontier India Journal - P V Narasimha Rao Section
• St. Kitts Case
• In Harshad Mehta's wake
• P. V. Narasimha Rao at Find a Grave

v t e Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi Morarji Desai Charan Singh Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Chandra Shekhar P. V. Narasimha Rao Atal Bihari Vajpayee H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral Manmohan Singh

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Narasimha Rao or Narasimharao is one of the Indian names.

• Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao served as the 10th Prime Minister of India.
• Modireddy Venkat Narasimha Rao, is a former Indian cricketer.
• Sistla Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao was Senior Advocate, Trade Union activist.
• Vinjamuri Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, was an Indian stage actor, Telugu-Sanskrit pandit.
• Panuganti Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, was one of the famous Telugu writers.
• Sthanam Narasimha Rao, famous Indian Stage artist.
• Kovvali Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, famous Indian novelist.
• Bhimavarapu Narasimha Rao, famous Telugu film music composer.

This page or section lists people with the surname Narasimha Rao. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (October 2010)

Kuldip Nayar
Born	(1923-08-14) 14 August 1923 (age 88) Sialkot
Nationality	Indian
Education	Medill School of Journalism
Occupation	Journalist, author and columnist
Website
http://www.kuldipnayar.com/

Kuldip Nayar (born 14 August 1923) is a veteran Indian journalist, syndicated columnist, human right activist and author, noted for his long career as a left-wing political commentator. He was also nominated as a Member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament in 1997.

Early life and education[link]

Nayar was born at Sialkot, Punjab, British India on 14 August 1923 to Gurbaksh Singh and Pooran Devi. He completed his B.A. (Hons.) from the F.C.College(Lahore) and LL.B from the Law College(Lahore).^[1] In 1952, he studied journalism from the Medill school of journalism, Northwestern University on a scholarship.^[2][3]

Career[link]

Nayar was an Urdu press reporter and was arrested towards the end of the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77).^[4] He is also a human right activist and a peace activist. He was a member of India's delegation to the United Nations in 1996.^[4] He was appointed High Commissioner to Great Britain in 1990 and nominated to the upper house of Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha in August 1997.^[4]

He writes columns and op-eds for over 80 newspapers in 14 languages^[4] including The Daily Star, The Sunday Guardian,^[5] The News (Pakistan),^[6] Express Tribune (Pakistan),^[7] Dawn (Pakistan).^[8]

Peace activist[link]

Every year since 2000, Nayar has been leading peace activists to light candles on the Independence days of India and Pakistan (14/15 August) at the Attari-Wagah India-Pakistan border near Amritsar.^[9]

He has been working to free Indian prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistani prisoners in India, who have completed their sentences, but have not been set free.^[10]

Political commentator[link]

As a political commentator, Nayar writes his views freely on most politically current issues.^[11] He has supported the movement of Anna Hazare^[4] and chided the Pakistan Government for not apologising for the army atrocities in East Pakistan in 1971 that led to the formation of Bangladesh,^[12] and for allowing drugs to be smuggled into India.^[13]

Author[link]

Nayar is also the author of 15 books, including "Between the Lines”, "Distant Neighbours: A Tale of the Subcontinent”, "India after Nehru", "Wall at Wagah, India-Pakistan Relationship", "The Judgement", "The Martyr","Scoop" and "India House".

• Nayar, Kuldip (1969). Between the lines. Allied Publishers. ASIN B0000E9UCO. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1971). India – The Critical years. Vikas Publications. ASIN B0006BZSPA. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1972). Distant Neighbours – A tale of the subcontinent. Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7069-0194-8. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1974). Suppression of judges. Indian Book Co. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1975). India After Nehru. Vikas Publications. ISBN 978-0-7069-0366-9. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1977). The Judgment:Inside story of the emergency in India. Vikas Publishing House. ASIN B0000D5MPX. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1978). In Jail. Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7069-0647-9. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1980). Report on Afghanistan. Allied Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-86186-503-1. 
• Nayar, Kuldip; Singh, Khushwant (1985). Tragedy of Punjab: Operation Bluestar & After. South Asia Books. ISBN 978-0-8364-1248-2. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (1992). India House. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-84432-6. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (2000). The Martyr : Bharat Singh Experiments in Revolution. Har Anand Publications. ISBN 978-81-241-0700-3. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (2003). Wall at Wagah – India Pakistan Relations. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-212-0829-1. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (2006). Scoop! : Inside Stories from Partition to the Present. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-81-7223-643-4. 
• Nayar, Kuldip (2007). Without Fear: The Life and Trial of Bhagat Singh. HarperCollins India. ISBN 978-81-7223-692-2. 
• Nayar, Kuldip; Noorani, Asif; Page, David (2008). Tales of two cities. Lotus Roli. ISBN 978-81-7436-676-4. 

He also came under strict surveillance and annoyed certain politicians and party members for disclosing very delicate and clandestine information in his book, "India: The Critical Years."^{[citation needed]} Kuldip Nayar has widely written about current issues and historic persons, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Daniel Smith and Barry Manilow. Nayar has advocated a policy of bilateral talks and engagement with India's neighbour Pakistan. He is known for his vision of a new South Asia, in which Pakistan and India would be on friendly terms.^[14][15]

Nayar's autobiography is entitled "The Day Looks Old."^[1] It is reported that the autobiography was planned to be released at the Attari-Wagah border on 14 August 2011.^[14]

In 1999, he was awarded an Alumni Merit Award by Northwestern University.^[1]

Criticism[link]

Nayar has been accused of supporting anti-Indian conspiracy theories.^[3] In a Feb 2010 article in Pakistani newspaper "Dawn", he alleged that the Indian anti-terrorism squad leader Hemant Karkare was murdered by Hindu right-wing activists,^[16] In July 2011 US Authorities confirmed that Nayar attended many events in United States hosted by and supported by Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, which had been funded by Pakistani ISI.^[17]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kuldip Nayar

• Wall at Wagah
• Without Fear – The life & trial of Bhagat Singh

References[link]

Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939 in Chennai, India sometimes spelt Subramaniam Swamy) is an Indian politician, academician and an economist.^[1] He is the President of the Janata Party of India. He also presently serves as chairman^[2] of the SCMS Board of Governors of the SCMS Group of Educational Institutions in Kerala.

Swamy has previously served as member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of India. He has written extensively on foreign affairs dealing largely with India-China, India-Pakistan and Indo-Israel relation and is also a published author.

In November 1978, Swamy was member of the Group of Eminent persons called to Geneva to prepare a report of the United Nations (UNCTAD) on Economic Co-operation between Developing countries (ECDC).Swamy simplified trade procedures and formulated a new export strategy which became the forerunner of trade reform adopted subsequently. In 1994, Swamy was appointed as Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade by then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. This was perhaps for the first time that an Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party.

He is also known for his anti corruption activism.

Early life and education[link]

Subramanian Swamy was born in Mylapore, Chennai, India. His father Sitaram Subramanian^[3] is from Madurai, Tamil Nadu who was an Indian Statistical Service officer^[4] and retired as Director of the Central Statistical Institute.^[5][6] His mother Padmavati Subramanian^[4] belongs to Kerala Iyer family from Trichur, Kerala.

He attended Hindu College, University of Delhi, from where he earned his Bachelor Honours degree in Mathematics.^[5] He studied for his Masters degree in Statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute.^[5] He then went to study at Harvard University on a full Rockefeller scholarship.^[5] He received a Ph.D. in Economics in 1965. His thesis adviser was Nobel Laureate Simon Kuznets.^[7]

For some time, while completing his dissertation in 1963, he worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York as an Assistant Economics Affairs Officer. He subsequently worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House at Harvard university.

Academic career[link]

Professorships[link]

In 1964, Swamy joined the faculty of economics at Harvard and since then has taught in the Department of Economics.^[8] He began as an assistant professor in July 1966^[5][9] and in 1969 became an associate professor.^[10] When he was Associate Professor at Harvard University, he was invited by Noble Laureate Amartya Sen^[3] for reader’s chair on Chinese studies at Delhi School of Economics.^[4] He accepted the offer and came back. However, when he arrived for the position at DSE, his appointment was cancelled due to his views on the nuclear capabilities for India and market friendly attitude.^[3] Thereafter, he moved to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and alongside to his teaching duties, he took special interest in talking to the hostel students. From 1969 to 1991, he was a Professor^[9] of mathematical economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.^[11] He was removed from the position by its board of Governors in the early 1970s but was legally reinstated in the late 1990s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position until 1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977–80), and on the Council of IITs (1980–82).

He taught economics courses in summer session at Harvard ^[12] until 2011. In December 2011, the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences removed his course from the Harvard Summer School course offerings in response to a controversial article he wrote, effectively ceasing his employment at Harvard.^[13]

Political career[link]

Early politics[link]

Swamy's career started with his involvement in Jayaprakash Narayan's Sarvodaya movement, which was an apolitical movement but which formed the foundation of the creation of Janta Party later.^[14]. The real turn in his political career came after his sacking from IIT. Liberal economic policies put forward by him didn't go well with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who discredited him as 'Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas'. As a result he was expelled from Indian Institute of Technology. This marked the beginning of his active political career. Staunch opponent of Indira Gandhi and right wing political party Jansangh sent him to Rajya Sabha - the upper house of Indian Parliament.^[3]

He was elected Member of Parliament 5 times between 1974 and 1999. He has twice represented the city of Mumbai North East during 1977 and 1980, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Parliament.^[3]

During the period of emergency, he fled to America, seeking save haven with a Indian businessman in Michigan who had become the spokesperson of opposition in the US. In 1976 when emergency was still in force and an arrest warrant issued in his name, he came to parliament to attend the session and managed to escape India after attending the session. This act made him a hero in the eyes of opposition parties.

He was one of the founding members of the Janata Party and has been its president since 1990.^[3]

Minister of Commerce and Law of India[link]

Economic Reforms in India[link]

During 1990 and 1991 Swamy was a member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Law of India. During this period he created the blueprint^[15][16] for economic reforms in India under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar which was later carried out in 1991 by Manmohan Singh^[5], then Finance Minister under leadership of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.^[16] The current Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh recently stated that Dr. Swamy was the first to envisage and articulate the need for reforms in India.^[2][17]

Between 1994 and 1996, he held the position of "Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade" (equivalent to the rank of a cabinet minister) under the P. V. Narasimha Rao government.^[3] Dr. Swamy has been subject to several defamation cases. He is known to argue these cases himself without the agency of lawyers. In October 2004, he along with other members of the erstwhile Janata Party established the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose the policies of the ruling UPA.

Issues held and contributions[link]

Foreign policy and affairs[link]

China and India[link]

He is known for his efforts in normalizing relations between China and India. In 1981, Indira Gandhi sought his help and upon which he persuaded Deng Xiaoping^[18] to open the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet to the Hindu pilgrims from India.^[19] He became the first Indian on the reopening to visit Kailash and Mansarovar in 1981. In 1990–1991, he was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet and was in charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Law and Justice.

Israel[link]

In his speeches and articles, Dr Swamy has expressed his admiration for Israel, and has credited its retaliatory capacity for its ability to survive in a hostile Arab environment. He made pioneering efforts at establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1982, Dr. Swamy became the first Indian political leader to make publicized trip to Israel, where he met with some important Israeli leaders such as Yitzhak Rabin and then Prime Minister Menachem Begin. His efforts at normalizing relations with Israel have borne fruit now with India's decision in 1992 to open Embassies in the respective countries.^[20]

Revealing 2G spectrum scam[link]

In November 2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote the first of five letters to PM Manmohan Singh seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja in regards to the 2G spectrum scam.^[21] However, Singh took no action^[22], leading Swamy to file a case on his own in the Supreme Court of India regarding the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a detailed report on the matter.^[23] He further called on the Indian government to re-auction the 2G spectrum without the involvement of Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.^[24]

Swamy has raised allegations that Sonia Gandhi's two sisters Anushka and Nadia have received sixty percent of the kickbacks in the 2G spectrum scam, amounting to Rs.18,000 crores each.^[25] On 15 April 2011, he filed a 206-page long petition with PM Singh seeking permission to prosecute Gandhi. In the petition, he claimed to have strong evidence of corrupt acts committed by Gandhi as early as 1972; he also raised doubts regarding her acquisition of Indian citizenship.^[26] At a lecture on corruption given on 29 May 2011, he again repeated his allegation against Sonia Gandhi, saying she has Rs.1 lakh crore stashed abroad.^[27] Most of Swamy's letters to the prime minister regarding this matter are backed up with full proof, which makes him defensive about his allegations.^[28]

Swamy filed various documents in the court to prosecute Minister of Home Affairs P.Chidambaram by including a January 15, 2008 letter written by Chidambaram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swamy also placed on record the certified copy of the minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram, Raja and the Prime Minister during the tenure of Raja as the MOC&IT. ^[29]After supreme court verdict cancelling all 122 licences awarded during A Raja tenure, Cho Ramaswamy described Subramanian swamy as not only man of the match but man of the series.^[30]

Supreme court petition in 2G scam[link]

On January 31, 2012, the Supreme Court of India accepted Swamy's petition against the Prime Minister's Office in the 2G case, saying that all public authorities should give a sanction within 3 months against any public official if a request is made for prosecution. The Supreme Court said that Subramanian Swamy had the locus to seek sanction from the Prime Minister for the prosecution of A Raja in the 2G scam. Sanction by a competent authority for the prosecution of a public servant has to be granted within a time frame, the apex court said. Justice A K Ganguly said that the sanction would be deemed to be granted if competent authority failed to take a decision within four months. Swamy's arguments were that he wrote to the PMO on November 29, 2008 but it was only on March 19, 2010 the PMO replied that the plea made by Swamy was "premature" as investigation was being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Raja was arrested by the CBI in the case and got bail on 15th May 2012 after spending nearly 15 months in the Tihar Central Jail.^[31]

Views on Kashmir[link]

In September 2008, Dr. Swamy stridently retorted against the contentions of some Indian columnists who voiced their opinions in favour of "peacefully" surrendering Kashmir to Pakistan. He said,

"I would say that the silent suffering majority of India wants none of this. The ‘Kashmir issue,’ in fact, can no more be solved by dialogue either with the Pakistanis or the Hurriyat, leave alone the constitutional impossibility of allowing it to secede. [...]Kashmir, in fact, is now our defining identity. It is a touchstone for our resolve to preserve our national integrity. The population of that State may be majority Muslim but the land and its history is predominantly Hindu. For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilisation of India and the composite culture that secularists talk of, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war but also resolve never to part with Kashmir. [...]

I will not blame the jihadis for the coming war. They are, after all, programmed that way by their understanding of Islamist theology. I will blame ourselves for not understanding their understanding of the fundamentals of Islam. [...]

Pakistanis often cite the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir to argue for a plebiscite. This obfuscates the fact of accession of the State to India. The legality of the Instrument of Accession signed in favour of India by the then Maharaja of J&K, Hari Singh, on October 26, 1947 has to prevail anyway. "^[32]

Controversial Article and Its Impacts[link]

Article about 2011 Mumbai bombings[link]

In response to the 2011 Mumbai bombings, he wrote an editorial in Daily News and Analysis (DNA) Some of Swamy’s Controversial suggestions in the article.

• The Hindu is the target and that Muslims of India are being programmed by a slow reactive process to become radical and thus slide into suicide against Hindus.
• Remove Article 370, and re-settle ex-servicemen in the Valley. Create Panun Kashmir for Hindu Pandit community. Look or create opportunity to take over PoK. If Pakistan continues to back terrorists, assist the Baluchis and Sindhis to struggle for independence.
• Remove the masjid in Kashi Vishwanath temple complex, and 300 others in other sites as a tit-for-tat.
• Make Sanskrit learning compulsory and singing of Vande Mataram mandatory, and declare India as Hindu Rashtra in which only those non-Hindus can vote if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors are Hindus. Rename India as Hindustan as a nation of Hindus and those whose ancestors are Hindus.

• Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hindu religion to any other religion.

Propagate the development of a Hindu mindset ^[33][34]. Swamy had written a similar column in The New Indian Express after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Negative reactions[link]

His column provoked a variety of reactions. His house was attacked by people alleged to be Congress party workers.^[35] Minorities Council of Maharashtra Vice Chairman Abraham Mathai and National Commission for Minorities chairman Wajahat Habibullah accused him of violating Indian Penal Code Section 153A.^[36][37] New Delhi law student Shehzad Poonawala attempted to lodge an FIR against him at Defence Colony police station, but was disallowed by the officer on duty.^[37] DNA published two hostile response columns by Rakesh Sharma and Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr. calling him a "Hindu Taliban", "maverick", and "Zionist" in response to his views.^[38][39]

Controversy at Harvard[link]

Some students at his alma mater Harvard University, where he also teaches economics in the summer school, accused him of stoking communalism and circulated a petition calling on the university to fire him and publicly repudiate his remarks. Two PhD students, Umang Kumar and Sanjay Pinto, started an online petition asking for the removal of courses taught by Dr Swamy, which received more than 450 signatures from students and faculty.^[40][41] Adam Kissel, on behalf of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, wrote in a letter to Harvard that a disciplinary investigation against him would be inappropriate for an academic institution dedicated to intellectual freedom, represented a threat to free speech, and could lead to self-censorship by other faculty members.^[42]

In response to the petition, Donald H. Pfister, dean of Harvard Summer School, stated that the school would "give this matter our serious attention", and decided to stand by its instructor.^[35] On Tuesday, 6 December 2011, the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to exclude Subramanian Swamy's summer school courses from its catalog.^[43][44][45] The Op-Ed was considered more to be a case of hate speech rather than free speech. 'I was persuaded... that the views expressed in Dr Swamy's op-ed piece amounted to incitement of violence instead of protected political speech,' Philosophy Department Chair Sean D Kelly wrote in an e-mail to the Crimson.^[46] Comparative Religion Professor Diana Eck said, "Swamy's op-ed [piece] clearly crosses the line by demonising an entire religious community and calling for violence against their sacred places".^[47] Swamy described the move as "nothing serious", saying "non-economists at Harvard don't like my views on how to protect India".^[48]

Views on Tamil Nadu Politics[link]

He is well known for his critical views against the Government of Tamil Nadu and against the "Aryan versus Dravidian" brand of divisive politics of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy.

He was staunch opponent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.^[49][50]

He obtained Supreme Court Stay against the implementation of Sethu Samuthiram Shipping Channel project (SSSCP). He believes that it would hurt the sentiments of people who believe that this shallow land connecting between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka was built by Lord Rama. He strongly opposes the implementation of SSSCP citing that implementing this scheme may affect the sentiments of Hinduism. He wrote letters to Prime Minister of India in June 2009 asking him to stop the project.^[51]. He has also strongly urged the Supreme Court of India to declare this Rama-Sethu as a National heritage & historical monument.

Family and Personal life[link]

Dr.Swamy married Dr. Roxna Swamy (a Parsi) in June 1966 whom he met at Harvard. Then she had obtained Ph.D in Maths ^[52] who is presently an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. They have two daughters, Dr. Gitanjali Swamy who is married to Sanjay Sarma, a professor at MIT and Suhasini Haider, a senior editor at CNN-IBN is married to Nadeem Haidar who is a son of Salman Haider, former foreign secretary and external affairs minister.^[53] His brother-in-law is Jewish, his son-in-law Muslim, his sister-in-law Christian, and his wife Parsi.^[40]