In a podcast with NewsX senior executive editor Priya Sehgal, author Vinay Sitapati and columnist Suhel Seth rank their best and worst Indian Prime Ministers through the years. Excerpts:
“PV Narsimha Rao had the most to overcome—a party that didn’t like him, a parliament where his party was a minority, as well as a terrible inbox. In those circumstances, I think he did an extraordinary job,” author and assistant professor Vinay Sitapati said. “I think he was one person who followed Sun Tzu to the T,” added political commentator Suhel Seth. “By not taking many decisions, he ended up taking the right ones.”
Former Prime Minister Rao faced India’s “most challenging situation economically,” he said. Seth went on to add that he believes that Rao was “genuinely” betrayed when the Babri Masjid demolition took place.
“I would also rate Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a great Prime Minister.” “[India] had gone through a rut, but today India’s global standing is at a very high order.” As for his opinions of PM Modi as a leader, Sitapati said: “When I think of the Prime Minister, I think of the idea of merit. He is a self-made man; he has the strengths and problems of a self-made man. His idea of India is travelling and meeting people, so he’s able to get a sense of the pulse of the nation.”
Suhel Seth went on to say that Jawaharlal Nehru was a competent PM of the country.
As for who they would rank as the worst Prime Ministers, Sitapati said he would consider Rajiv Gandhi a strong contender. “Very few people inherited the strengths that he did—completely controlling the party, the highest mandate in Indian history in Parliament.”
“Although there was the issue of Sikh separatism, it was not so bad in 1984 that it was unmanageable.” Sitapati further stated that while Gandhi had the right economic instincts, sheer experience was his undoing as Prime Minister. Seth, on the other hand, did not answer directly but said that the tenures of all Indian Prime Ministers were “contextual.”
