Manmohan Singh Death: In 1991, when India was facing economic crisis, Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister took steps towards historic economic reforms. But due to these reforms, differences also emerged between him and Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. Sanjay Baru writes in his book “1991 How PV Narasimha Rao made History” that on June 20, 1991, when Sanjay Baru asked Narasimha Rao that according to the newspapers Sharad Pawar was going to become the Prime Minister, Rao laughingly replied that it It is only a matter of Bombay newspapers.
At that time, Rao’s close aide and former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad was also present with him, who responded with a smile to Rao’s words. According to Sanjay Baru, Rao’s path to becoming Prime Minister suddenly opened because Sonia Gandhi and Gandhi family loyalists supported him.
Narasimha Rao got support from Gandhi family
Narasimha Rao got the opportunity to become Prime Minister with the support of the Gandhi family, although some political commentators believed that Sonia Gandhi wanted Shankar Dayal Sharma to be the Prime Minister. It took two years for Rao to gain majority in Parliament. This was a big challenge at that time because no one outside the Nehru-Gandhi family could achieve this success.
Criticism on Manmohan Singh and his economic policies
When Narasimha Rao handed over the responsibility of improving the economic conditions of the country to Manmohan Singh, Manmohan Singh set a target of bringing inflation down to 1 percent. As Finance Minister, he came to be known as ‘1% Singh’. However, his reforms also came under criticism, especially from senior party leader Arjun Singh and Left Congress leaders. Fed up with these criticisms, Manmohan Singh sent his resignation to Rao thrice, but Rao returned his resignation every time.
Rao’s anger and Manmohan Singh’s response after resignation
Narasimha Rao became angry when his resignation was sent for the third time and he said to Manmohan Singh “You say that you are not a politician, but how can you say so when you hold the post of Finance Minister?” On this, Manmohan Singh calmly replied that his job was to carry out economic reforms and not to get involved in politics.
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