Half - Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India

Vinay Sitapati

Jun 2016 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

When P.V. Narasimha Rao became the unlikely prime minister of India in 1991, he inherited a nation adrift, violent insurgencies, and economic crisis. Despite being unloved by his people, mistrusted by his party, and ruling under the shadow of 10 Janpath, Rao transformed the economy and ushered India into the global arena. With exclusive access to Rao’s never-before-seen personal papers and diaries, this definitive biography provides new revelations on the Indian economy, nuclear programme, foreign policy and the Babri Masjid. Tracing his early life from a small town in Telangana through his years in power, and finally, his humiliation in retirement, it never loses sight of the inner man, his difficult childhood, his corruption and love affairs, and his lingering loneliness. Meticulously researched and brutally honest, this landmark political biography is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing about the man responsible for transforming India.

Ratings and reviews

Mostly history is one dimensional, it always gets fabricated by the people who takes dominance over the rest by a war, by a conflict or by a faith. We hardly gets to know the story of the other side, story of those who never come to the limelight, of those whose idea and motivations were suppressed and of course of those who could not grab that number one position in the race. In the modern world these battles constantly happens in the corridors of political power and the common man never gets a chance to know the other perspectives existed, other alternatives overlooked. This is very true in the case of P.V. Narasimha Rao, ex-prime minister of India, this book is all about the other side of the story and behind the scene narratives of many big stories which grabbed the world’s headline a quarter century ago during the tenure of Mr. Rao as the prime minister and the history of one nation which embraces a new way of life since 1991. It is an interesting read for all those who typically likes political history and especially for those with some interest in Indian political narratives. It gives some inside view to the most complex clockwork called Indian Politics! Vinay Sitapati did a wonderful job by putting the other side of the story pretty well. Now it is up to us, the readers, to decide where you want to place Mr. Rao in the pantheons of Indian politics.

PV is the deliberately neglected mixed genius of Gandhi_Nehru India.The man is well presented...the Lion smirks,while remaining even at half size....the country not prepared for the roar.Makes engaging reading of a big shaper of India on the other side of license,quota..Father of Modern India

Author lied, Rao was not poor, before he died Rao had Engineering Colleges to his name, hence by no mean he had any problems in paying for his lawyer

About the author

Vinay Sitapati is a political scientist, journalist and lawyer. He teaches at Ashoka University and writes for the Indian Express. He has studied at National Law School, Bangalore, and Harvard University, and is finishing his PhD in politics from Princeton.