Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday, 28 June 2026, paid tribute to former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao on his birth anniversary, honouring the statesman's legacy as the architect of India's landmark economic liberalisation.

Context

P. V. Narasimha Rao, born on 28 June 1921 in present-day Telangana, served as India's ninth Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996. His Jayanti — birth anniversary — is observed each year as an occasion to recall his contributions to modern India. CM Sarma described him as 'a visionary statesman' whose 'bold economic reforms transformed India's growth trajectory.'

Rao is widely regarded as the political enabler of the 1991 economic reforms, which dismantled the licence raj, opened India to foreign investment, and set the country on a path of sustained GDP growth. He worked alongside then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh to execute the landmark liberalisation package that averted a balance-of-payments crisis.

Policy Backdrop

When Rao assumed office in June 1991, India's foreign exchange reserves had fallen to less than two weeks' worth of import cover, and the country had pledged gold to the Bank of England to secure emergency loans. The reforms his government introduced — including industrial delicensing, trade liberalisation, and partial convertibility of the rupee — are credited with catalysing average annual growth rates that lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty over the following three decades.

Beyond economics, Rao's tenure saw significant shifts in India's foreign policy, including the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Israel and the articulation of the Look East Policy, which sought deeper engagement with Southeast Asia — a framework that later evolved into the Act East Policy under subsequent governments.

Stakeholders and Impact

CM Sarma, as convenor of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and a senior BJP leader, joins a cross-party tradition of honouring Rao, whose legacy has increasingly been reclaimed by multiple political formations. The BJP-led central government conferred the Bharat Ratna — India's highest civilian honour — on Rao posthumously in 2024, underscoring a bipartisan recognition of his contributions.

For Assam and the broader North-East, the 1991 liberalisation and the Look East Policy held particular significance, as they positioned the region as a potential gateway to Southeast Asian markets — a vision that continues to inform infrastructure and connectivity investments in the area today.

What's Next

Tributes from political leaders across the spectrum on Rao's Jayanti reflect a growing consensus around his place in India's post-independence history. Scholarly and policy discussions around the 1991 reforms remain active, particularly as India navigates new rounds of economic restructuring and global trade realignment. Rao's model of decisive reform under crisis conditions continues to be invoked in debates about the pace and depth of future policy change.