The Telangana Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding to confer the Bharat Ratna – country’s highest civilian honour- posthumously on former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao.
While moving the resolution, Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao urged the Centre to install Narasimha Rao’s statue and portrait in Parliament.
The resolution urged the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on the son of Telangana Narasimha Rao, who was the first prime minister from South India. The resolution also called for renaming the Central University of Hyderabad as PV Narasimha Rao Central University.
On the request of the Chief Minister, Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy also approved the unveiling of the portrait of the former Prime Minister in the state assembly.
KCR described him as the architect of new economic reforms, a rare diplomat, a polyglot, an outstanding philosopher who led the country on the path of development, and an extraordinary intelligent leader.
Stating that Narasimha Rao fully deserved Bharat Ratna, the Chief Minister called upon the Central government to announce this honour for the former prime minister in the ensuing session of Parliament. KCR said it was unfortunate that Narasimha Rao has not got the due recognition.
The Chief Minister recalled that when the land was the only resource for people to have their employment and earnings, Narasimha Rao as the Chief Minister of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh had implemented land reforms daringly. He claimed that this resulted in having 93% small and medium level farmers in the Telangana state now.
The KCR government’s decision annoyed AIMIM to the extent that the party boycotted the assembly proceedings when the resolution was introduced. The AIMIM has released a statement saying that, “Our party cannot support resolution and discussion on centenary celebrations of late P.V. Narasimha Rao, so we have decided to boycott today’s proceedings in Telangana Legislative Assembly and Legislative council.”
AIMIM leader Akberuddin Owaisi stated, “As Prime Minister, Rao failed to protect Babri Masjid from demolition & his communal politics is well known.”
The Congress party supported the move. Bhatti Vikramarka, leader of the Congress Legislative Party in the assembly backed the demand. The Congress leader and exMinister Sridhar Babu said, “Bharat Ratna should be conferred on Narasimha Rao. He was responsible for economic reforms in the country. He fought against the Nizam nawabs’ despotic policies. He was in the Congress party until his last breath.”
“A resolution passed by the Telangana Assembly recommending the nation’s highest civilian award to late Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao is laudable and we support Chief Minister KCR for taking initiative as part of the centenary celebrations of the dynamic leader, son of Telangana soil and father of economic reforms in the country,” N. V. Subhash, grandson of PV Narasimha Rao said.
Expressing hope that the Central Government would consider and announce Bharat Ratna to the visionary leader PV Narasimha Rao, the BJP leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has great respect for PV Narasimha Rao and he would be honored appropriately.
Narendra Modi remembered PV on several occasions praising his services to the nation. In the recent ‘Maan ki Baat’ programme also Modi has called him as ‘great son of India’.
He reiterated that Rao led the country at a very crucial time in India’s history. He termed him as a great political leader and a scholar. The Narendra Modi government also constructed a memorial at Ekta Sthal in Delhi and announced a postal stamp to commemorate the occasion of centenary celebrations. “MIM was absent in today’s assembly. They should also support the Telangana son of soil instead of deriving political mileage”. N.V. Subhash added further.