Why is Congress not owning PV Narasimha Rao's legacy? Will BJP appropriate him as well?

New Delhi: It seems that instead of owning the legacy of former Prime Minister and great leader like PV Narasimha Rao, the Congress is hell-bent on handing over his heritage to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Last week senior Congress and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar dubbed Narasimha Rao as “communal” and dubbed him as “BJP's first Prime Minister”. There was not a single statement of rebuttal by the leadership of the grand old party, which effectively indicated that the statement was in sync with the thinking of the party's top brass. At the launch of his autobiography, Memoirs of a Maverick: The First Fifty Years (1941-1991), Aiyar said that he discovered first-hand “how communal and how Hindu-oriented” Rao was. Aiyar had met him as part of his plan to launch the Ram Rahim Yatra across the country.

This is not the first time that the Congress has been criticized for not recognizing the statesmanship and immense contribution made by Narasimha Rao in implementing liberalization and putting the nation on the path to progress.

The repeated attacks on Narasimha Rao also indicate the pettiness of the ruling first family and the myopic vision of the Congress’ top leadership which cannot think beyond and recognize any contribution made by anyone other than a person from the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

The Congress’ first family’s hostility toward Rao is well recorded and it is believed that Rao was denied a rightful place and space in Delhi after his death allegedly at the behest of Sonia Gandhi. In fact, it is understood that Sonia was present in the audience when Aiyar made the above-mentioned statements.

This amply indicates the clear backing of Aiyar’s allegations against the former Prime Minister by the ruling dispensation in the grand old party.

Will the BJP award Bharat Ratna to PVNR, and usurp him from Congress?

By making statements on Narasimha Rao, veteran Congress leader Aiyar has seemingly offered the former PM’s legacy to the BJP on a platter. The saffron unit, which lays claim to the implementation of liberalization and economic reforms in the country, should very well bite the bullet and offer a Bharat Ratna to PVNR.

By awarding India’s highest civilian honour to the late prime minister, the BJP will be doing a service to the nation while at the same time honouring the contributions made by the senior leader towards the nation’s developmental path.

BJP has already openly appropriated and laid claim to Congress’ senior leaders like Sardar Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose. And by making the “award move” it can very well use this to its advantage politically and also to create sentiments in the saffron unit’s favour in southern Indian states.

By appropriating the heritage of Narasimha Rao, the BJP can use this to its advantage in two Telugu-speaking states - Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Over the past few years, the saffron party has been desperately trying to increase its base in the southern Indian states. Awarding Rao would also go a long way in shrugging off the BJP’s image of a party largely pandering to the cow belt and striking a sentimental chord in the South.

By not recognizing and letting go of the stellar contributions of its former Prime Minister, Congress has seemingly given another opportunity to the BJP to grow at its cost. With crucial Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha polls just months away, the BJP may make a political move on the issue to secure an advantage for itself.