New Book On Rao To Not Hold Back Any Punches

A young scholar from Princeton, Vinay Sitapati, has written this thorough biography of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. This book is based on Rao’s never-before seen personal papers along with interviews with his close friends and relatives.

As such the book is bound to contain interesting episodes from Rao’s life - his uneasiness with Indira Gandhi and the Emergency, his role in the destruction of the Babri Masjid as well as an unsteady affiliation with Sonia Gandhi. The book will also have new materials on the Indian nuclear programme, and foreign policy during PM Rao’s reign.

The author stated in a TOI interview:

I was inspired by a book I read on Deng Xiaoping and the transformation of China in the 1980s…

On the issue of getting access to Rao’s personal papers by the ex-PM’s family, Sitapathi said in the same interview-

It was important to me that the family does not control what I write. Which is why I have been able to write about Rao’s strengths as well as his flaws…

As PM Rao inherited a nation riddled with economic crisis, violent insurgencies and communal strife. Yet it was PM Rao who to a large extent pulled India back from the brink. He ushered in economic reforms through his liberalisation policies which was executed by the then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Through tracing Rao’s life from a small town in Telangana, the book covers his difficult childhood, his corruptions and his love affairs. This breakthrough political biography is a must-read for anyone interested in the prime minister responsible for transforming India.