IB gave Rao list of Congmen, ministers against 1991 reforms

How former Prime Minister pushed economic reforms past Congress, BJP, India Inc, helped by Manmohan Singh

ALMOST 25 years ago, in late 1991, Narasimha Rao asked for a telling report from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). He wanted to know which of his Congress MPS were against which specific economic reform.

The IB replied with a detailed note listing the four major kinds subsidy and agricultural policy.”

It then lists the names of all Congress MPS — in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha — who were against each of these measures:

■ There were 55 MPS against the liberalisation of trade policies, including seven ministers such as Balram Jakhar and Madhavrao Scindia.

■ Six Congress MPS opposed the entry of multinationals, including K K Birla.

■ Privatisation of public sector firms faced opposition from 18 MPS.

■ 20 MPS resisted the reduction of fertiliser subsidy.

■ 22 MPS were against a Congress-bjp understanding on reforms, including Arjun Singh and Digvijaya Singh.

The IB report shows just how ruthless Rao was in pushing through reforms. He wanted to gauge the temperature of his own party — the biggest opponent to liberalisation — and act accordingly.

These and other revelations, culled from exclusive access to cartons of Rao’s private papers as well as interviews with over a 100 people, form part of the forthcoming book Half-lion: How P V Narasimha Rao Transformed India (Penguin Random House India)

Rao’s ability to outmanoeuvre opponents of liberalisation was central to his re-invention of India. Apart from IB surveillance, Rao deployed several other tricks in dealing with the Congress. He repeatedly claimed that liberalisation was just an extension of

Express archive Both Rao and Manmohan referred to economic reforms as a fulfillment of Rajiv Gandhi’s vision.