1991: How P. V. Narasimha Rao Made History

by Sanjaya Baru

After the long reign of the Nehru-Gandhi family from 1947 to 1989, with a three-year interruption from 1977-80, the Congress was elected to office for the first time in 1991 under the leadership of a ‘non-family’ political leader. Lal Bahadur Shastri, also unrelated to the Nehru-Gandhis, was prime minister in 1964-66 but he did not lead the party through an election campaign.