Interesting old TV interview of former Indian PM (Late) P.V. Narasimha Rao about his book, The Insider; PVNR was reverential towards Sathya Sai

Last updated on 17th Feb. 2019

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY POLITICALLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts that I put up related to Indian political leaders which may include leaders in government currently and those not in government. I am an Indian citizen and resident of India. I do vote in Indian elections but I keep who I vote for as a private matter. I should also say that I am a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in India.

In Focus Narashimha Rao, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XqPEo9FANw, around 25 mins.

Non-Indian Sai devotees may be interested to know that former Prime Minister of India, (Late) Shri P.V.Narasimha Rao (PVNR) has visited Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and shown reverance to him, and that PVNR as PM was the chief guest for the inauguration of Puttaparthi Super hospital in 1991. Here's a short less than 3 min video of that event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peXX3H0Lr8c published by Radio Sai Global Harmony.  In the video, PVNR bows down and seems to touch the feet of Bhagavan.

Given below are a few screenshots from the video:

[To open pic in higher resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

The youtube interview mentioned earlier is about P.V. Narasimha Rao's (PVNR's) book, The Insider, https://www.amazon.in/dp/0140271171/. That book description on the amazon page says that the book is based on a fictional state called Aforazabad which is based on actual Hyderabad state. The amazon page also states: "The book discusses the state of events and the political scenario in India under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, delving into areas like her rise to power, second coming, assassination, followed by her son Rajiv Gandhi’s entry into the world of politics. The Insider reveals to the reader the state of affairs in a political scenario, narrated by a man who has had first-hand experience of it all."

The youtube interview has PVNR telling us that even though the book is a fictional account, it has real characters as well and that the fictional account is based on reality of Indian politics that he experienced in his long political career of around six decades. PVNR was the first Prime Minister of India from South India, with H.D. Deve Gowda being the only other Prime Minister from South India, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_India. PVNR served for nearly five years as PM from June 1991 to May 1996 whereas Deve Gowda served for around a year as PM from June 1996 to April 1997.

For those who do not know about PVNR, here are some extracts from his wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._V._Narasimha_Rao:

Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996.[3] His ascendancy to the prime ministership was politically significant in that he was the first holder of this office from a non-Hindi-speaking region, belonging to the southern part of India. He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India.[4] Rao, who held the Industries portfolio, was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj, as this came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.[5] He is often referred to as the "Father of Indian Economic Reforms".[6][7] Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the License Raj, reversing the socialist policies of Rajiv Gandhi's government. He employed Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister to embark on historic economic transition. With Rao's mandate, Dr. Manmohan Singh launched India's globalisation angle of the reforms that implemented the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies to rescue the almost bankrupt nation from economic collapse.[5] 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.[8][9]

According to a former Foreign Minister of India Natwar Singh, "Unlike Nehru, his knowledge of Sanskrit was profound. Nehru had a temper, PV a temperament. His roots were deep in the spiritual and religious soil of India. [Ravi: Large font, bold & italics mine; PV refers to PVNR] He did not need to 'Discover India'". 11th President of India APJ Abdul Kalam described Rao as a "patriotic statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the political system".

...

PV Narasimha Rao had humble social origins. He was born in a Niyogi Brahmin family in the village of Vangara , Bheemadevarpalle Mandal, in Karimnagar District, now in Telangana, but later adopted and brought to Vangara village of Bheemadevarapalli mandal of Karimnagar district in Telangana, then part of Hyderabad State, when he was three years old.[1] His father, Pamulaparthi Sitarama Rao, and mother, Pamulaparthi Rukmini (Rukminamma), hailed from agrarian families.[16] Popularly known as PV, he completed part of his primary education in Katkuru village of Bheemdevarapalli mandal in Karimnagar district by staying in his relative Gabbeta Radhakishan Rao's house and studying for his Bachelor's degree in the Arts college at the Osmania University. P.V. Narasimha Rao was part of Vande Matram movement in late 1930s in the Hyderabad state. He later went on to Hislop College, now under Nagpur University, where he completed a Master's degree in law.[17]

Rao's mother tongue was Telugu, and he had an excellent command of Marathi. In addition to eight other Indian languages (Hindi, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil and Urdu), he spoke English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German and Persian.[18][19] 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.[20] Both PV and Sadasiva Rao contributed articles under the pen-name Jaya-Vijaya.[20][21]

...

Narasimha Rao was an active freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement[24] and joined full-time politics after independence as a member of the Indian National Congress.[17] 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's rule had to be imposed to counter the Jai Andhra movement during his tenure.[18] He rose to national prominence in 1972 for handling several diverse portfolios, most significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.[17] In fact, it is speculated that he was in the running for the post of India's President along with Zail Singh in 1982.[25]

Rao very nearly retired from politics in 1991. It was the assassination of the Congress President Rajiv Gandhi that persuaded him to make a comeback.[26] As the Congress had won the largest number of seats in the 1991 elections, he had an 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 the state of Andhra Pradesh, and also the first from southern India.[4][27]

...

In spite of significant achievements in a difficult situation, in the 1996 general elections the Indian electorate voted out Rao's Congress Party. Soon, Sonia Gandhi's coterie forced Mr. Rao to step down as Party President. He was replaced by Sitaram Kesri.

Rao rarely spoke of his personal views and opinions during his 5-year tenure. After his retirement from national politics, he published a novel called The Insider.[80] 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 influential posts in Government, he faced many financial troubles. One of his sons was educated with the assistance of his son-in-law. He also faced trouble paying fees for a daughter who was studying medicine.[81] According to P. V. R. K. Prasad, an Indian Administrative Service(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 Banjara Hills to clear the dues of lawyers.[82]

[Wiki References:
1. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/people-hail-decision-on-pvs-birth-anniversary/article6146786.ece
2. http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Rao-And-His-Sons-Uneasy-Ties/201598
3. "Prime Ministers of India". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.. Indian PM's official website. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
4. "Narasimha Rao – a Reforming PM". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 23 December 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
5. Arvind Kumar, Arun Narendhranath (3 October 2001). India must embrace unfettered free enterprise. Daily News and Analysis.
6. "PV Narasimha Rao Remembered as Father of Indian Economic Reforms". voanews.com. VOA News. 23 December 2004. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012.
7. "Narasimha Rao led India at crucial juncture, was father of economic reform: Pranab". 31 December 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
8. V. Venkatesan (1–14 January 2005). "Obituary: A scholar and a politician". Frontline. 22 (1). Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
9. "PV Narasimha Rao Passes Away". tlca.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.

16. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=R2yCDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PT15.w.2.0.34.0.1
17. "P. V. Narasimha Rao – A Profile". Indian PM's official website. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009.
18. "PV Narasimha Rao". The Daily Telegraph. 24 December 2004. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
19. Derek Brown (24 December 2004). "PV Narasimha Rao". The Guardian.
20. "Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao". M. Rajagopalachary, Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao Memorial Endowment Lecture. kakatiyapatrika.com. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
21. "With PV". kakatiyapatrika.com. 31 October 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
22. "Biographical Sketch of P.V. Rajeshwar Rao". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
23. "Sri. P.V.Rajeswara Rao". Matrusri Institute of P.G. Studies. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
24. "A Profile of P.V. Narasimha Rao" (PDF). Embassy of India in Washington. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2010.
25. "The Lonely Masks of Narasimha Rao". mjakbar.org. Archived from the original on 17 September 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
26. John F. Burns (21 May 1995). Crisis in India: Leader Survives, for Now. The New York Times.
27. Observations on Indian Independence Day. Subash Kapila. Retrieved 2 March 2007.

80. Rao, P V N (2000). The Insider. Penguin;. ISBN 978-0140271171.
81. "Nindalapaalaina Aparachanukyudu-2". Telugu.greatandhra.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
82. P V Krishna Rao (4 January 2010). PV made scapegoat in Babri case. newindianexpress.com

end Wiki References]
--- end wiki extracts ---

The wiki page also states that he was MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) from Manthani in Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana) from 1957 to 1977. He was MP (Member of Parliament) from 1977 to 1998 from four places - Hanamkonda in Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana), Ramtek in Maharashtra, Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh and Brahmapur in Orissa. So he was an elected member of the AP state legislature for around 20 years and an elected member of  parliament (union/federal legislature) for around 21 years, making it a total of around 41 years as an elected legislator. That is some legislative experience!

PVNR was CM of Andhra Pradesh from Sept. 1971 to Jan. 1973, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chief_Ministers_of_Andhra_Pradesh.

BTW I placed an order for PVNR's book, The Insider, today at the above mentioned amazon.in page. I don't know when I will get around to reading it as I have quite a few paper (not electronic) books with me which I have to read. But I know that if the paper book copy is around somewhere on my tables in my flat, I will sometime get on to reading it. As it is PVNR's book about Indian democracy based on his experience as Chief Minister, Union Minister and Prime Minister, it is a must-read book for me. I mean, PVNR was well known for being a very intelligent and brainy man. So I am sure his book will have some real stuff in it.

[I thank wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever. I similarly thank Radio Sai Global Harmony for above screenshots from their youtube video.]
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Here's an interesting video of the press meet of USA President Bill Clinton and Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in the White House, USA in May 1994 (close to a quarter century ago), Bill Clinton and P. V. Narasimha Rao meeting 1994, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZajqHfledvY, around 30 mins.

I would have liked to transcribe the initial remarks of both President Clinton and PM Rao but am not in a position to spare time now for that.

I must also say that I like Bill Clinton. Videos of him remind me of another Bill who was my boss in Wang Labs, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA in 1987-88 for a year long software development assignment - Bill (William) Reynolds. Bill Reynolds then was, and I am quite sure continues now to be, a friendly guy and a nice guy. He now runs a Seafood restaurant (quite a change of profession from Software R&D to running a restaurant) in Mountain View area of California called Billy's Boston Chowder House, https://www.facebook.com/BillysBostonChowderHouse/.