P. V. Narasimha Rao

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004), popularly known as P. V. Narasimha Rao, was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician from the Congress Party who served as the Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first person from South India and second person from a non-Hindi speaking background to be the prime minister. He is especially known for introducing various liberal reforms to India's economy by recruiting Manmohan Singh as the finance minister to rescue the country from going towards bankruptcy during the economic crisis of 1991. Future prime ministers continued the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government.

Prior to his premiership, he served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and later also held high order portfolios of the union government, such as Defence, Home Affairs and External Affairs. In 1991 Indian general election, the Indian National Congress led by him won 244 seats and thereafter he along with external support from other parties formed a minority government with him being the prime minister. As prime minister, Rao adopted to avert the impending 1991 economic crisis, the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States, and China. He energised the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles programme.

Rao was also referred to as ''Chanakya'' for his ability to steer economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a minority government. He remains a controversial figure in his party due to alleged role during and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and also for having a bitter relation with the Nehru–Gandhi family, and he was sidelined later by his own party, Nevertheless, retrospective evaluations have been kinder, positioning him as one of the best prime ministers of India in various polls and analyses. In 2024, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award by the Government of India. Provided by Wikipedia