He was an active freedom-fighter during India's indpendence movement, and after independence, he joined politics full time. He served brief stints in the cabinet (1962 - 1971) and chief ministries (1971 - 1973) for the state of Andhra Pradesh. When the Indian National Congress split in 1969, he remained loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and stayed so during the national emergency (1974-1977). He then rose to the national level in 1972 by serving in several ministries, most significantly home, defence and foreign affairs (1980 - 1984), in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He was the first PM from South India and Andhra Pradesh.

Ascent to Prime Minister
After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the general elections of 1991, He was chosen to lead the Congress party, and when the Congress won a plurality in parliament later that year He was invited to head a minority government. He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years. He was also the first Prime Minister to lead a minority government for a full term (five years) and the first prime minister from southern India.

National Economic Crisis
Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister in 1991. India's leftist economic policies had caused economic stagnation. In the early 1990's longtime leftist regimes such as USSR and China were in the process of liberalization. He believed India would benefit from undertaking such an economic transformation. He appointed Manmohan Singh (India's PM since 2004) as Finance Minister to accomplish his goals.He provided the much needed political will and support to push economic reforms. India's economy grew by an average of 6.3% between 1991-2000, a growth rate that continues with a predicted rate of 6.7% for 2005 (source: IMF World Economic Outlook). His supporters have claimed that this rate of growth is the result of spending cuts, deregulation, and privatization that began under the He government.Rao picked conservative BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee to represent India in the World Disarmament Conference. Although they were opponents, Vajpayee's hardline pro-nuclear stance was in accordance with Rao's own views. Vajpayee later became the Prime Minister.

National Security, and National Unity
Apart from the balance-of-payments crisis in 2001, He faced two other large challenges during his time in office.


Terrorism
The Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir faced increased terrorist activity during Rao's tenure. It was soon
discovered that training camps in Pakistan administered Kashmir for these militants previously directed at evicting
the Soviet army from Afghanistan were now producing the same fighters who were infiltrating Kashmir. Pakistan was directly charged with sheltering, arming and supplying infiltrators. Hindu pilgrims and Sikh settlers were attacked, and thousands of Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homes in the Kashmir valley. Violence rocked and shut downparts of Kashmir, which is heavily depended on tourism, and also struck major cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Similar terrorism spread into the northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Nagaland.He's government introduced the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Act, India's first anti-terrorism legislation, and sent the Indian Army into full swing to eliminate the infiltrators, but despite a heavy and largely successful Army campaign, the state descended into a security nightmare. Tourism and commerce were largely disrupted, and the people began living in fear of the terrorists and the Army. Special police units were often accused of committing excesses against prisoners, including torture and excessive detention. Rao was criticized but the state remained stable and largely secure.

Babri Mosque Crisis
The long-agitating VHP activists attacked the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya on 3 December 1992. The site is claimed to bethe birthplace of Lord Rama. The destruction of the mosque, which was carried through the international media, unleashed the most vicious communal violence in the nation's modern history. Muslims retaliated with rioting across the country, infuriated by the destruction of the mosque, and incited by some Hindu elements, and and almost every major city like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai struggled to hold back mobs.Although intensive police operations brought the country back to peace. He was heavily criticized for this traumatic tragedy.A strong earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra, also killed 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in 1994-1995.Despite the tragedies, He was applauded for using modern technology and resources to organize major relief operations to assuage the stricken peoples, and for schemes of economic reconstruction.He also energized the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles program, which ultimately yielded in the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. It is speculated that these tests were actually planned in 1995, during Rao's own tenure itself. He increased military spending, and set the Army on course to fight the emerging threat of terrorism and insurgencies, as well as Pakistan and China's nuclear potentials. He also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States and China.

 

The Insider - Autobiography	The common motivation: power. The common point of unity: self. That was the game, by whatever name you chose to call it” (p.206) P.V.Narasimha Rao presided over India in the Prime Minister-ial hot seat during some of its most tumultuous years, gaining notoriety for bribery scandals, Hamlet-like reticence and tight-lipped silence. It is almost as if to compensate for those five years of brooding inaction and “law will take its own course” taciturnity that He has come up with a tome of a fictional autobiography that could almost have beaten A Suitable Boy for volubility. As it is, Vikram Seth’s record for the longest English novel of the 20th century remains intact, although He broke all existing records for the highest authorial royalty received by an Indian for one work. David Davidar, CEO of Penguin, must have signed the cheque calculating the status of the writer, his unique position as an insider who has ‘seen it all’ and the controversial subject matter he was delving into – “the fascinating institution of politics.” Sure enough,
The Insider possesses all the necessary ingredients that deservingly make it a bestseller and a standard reference for analysing and debating the successes and failures of India’s democratic safari. Book Review source: student.maxwell.syr.edu/ schaulia/Rao%20Review.htm