1991: How P. V. Narasimha Rao Made History

by Sanjaya Baru

1991 was the year in which the Congress Party grabbed the opportunity to return to its origins as a national political party, and not just one more of the many family-dominated parties.

‘Indira Congress’ has morphed into the ‘Sonia Congress’.

erudition

If he had succeeded in conducting nuclear weapon tests in the winter of 1995, as he had planned to, his tenure would not only have begun with a bang but also ended with one, so to speak.

his friend and successor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

PV too had his highs and his lows. It is a pity that his own party has chosen to remember him by his lows.

Fraternal

benediction

bestowed

Like many of you here who belong to my generation, I began in the Congress as a humble footsoldier in Mahatma Gandhi’s Swaraj Yatra. Gandhiji’s message was clear. It was the same as had been taught centuries earlier by the BHAGAVAD GITA: that we have a right only to action and service and not to the fruits thereof. Our other teacher, Jawaharlal Nehru, used to say that we are small men but something of the greatness of our cause makes us great to some extent. We come and go. But our motherland is eternal, like the Ganga, the Himalayas, Kanyakumar and the Tirumalai hills. Being born in this hallowed and beloved land, it is our duty to work for it in such a way that nothing diminishes its greatness.

India signifies -- an ancient civilisation with a genius for constant renewal, a harmonious family of many religions, many languages, many races and many tribes, each realising its full potential.

Democracy here means secular democracy, pure and simple. People of all communities, faiths and persuasions have equal rights in our polity.

Under Indira Gandhi, the Parliament made a basic and well-considered Amendment in the Indian Constitution. The fact that this was brought about two and a half decades after the Constitution came into force, is significant. It means that much serious thought went into its making. It is high time that the full implications of this Amendment are realised for further action.

scene during the greater part of this century. As a political party,

The public sector therefore stands as a symbol of the country’s self-reliance.

These are the oppressed and the under-privileged for whom life has traditionally been a game of snakes and ladders. Here, the duty of the State is to provide more ladders for the poor to rise and to keep the snakes at least at bay.

The Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Nehru Rozgar Yojana, Indira Awas Yojana, Indira Mahila Yojana, Wasteland Development Programme, National Literacy Mission, Integrated Child Development Services(lCDS) and many other such programmes are in implementation.

Despite terrorist threats held out with aid and abetment from across the border, the people have unequivocally given their verdict for the democratic process.

incisive,

Any attempt to earn profits at the cost of Environment will be suicidal inasmuch as no one will be left to enjoy the profits, if Nature revolts.

And when I mention India in this connection, I do not confine myself merely to the geographical chunk that is called India. It goes far beyond those confines. Here India is not merely a country; it is a concept, it is a vision.