10 years after death, Narasimha Rao gets a memorial

The architect of India’s liberalised economy, who has often been sidelined by the Congress top brass, former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, has finally found recognition in the form of a memorial in the national capital.

Disowned by the Congress and denied a memorial in Delhi by its government, a memorial ghat for the late Narasimha Rao at “Rashtriya Smriti” is ready now, 10 years after his death.

The memorial ghat is close to the memorials of all the former Presidents and Prime Ministers. “It has been made ready to coincide with the late leader’s birth anniversary, which was two days back,” ministry sources stated. Rao, who headed a Congress government between 1991 and 1996, was disowned by his party. After his death in 2004, the Congress-led UPA government had denied any memorial to him. The UPA government had gone further and decided in 2013 that there will be no more separate memorials for any leader, citing paucity of space.

However, after the NDA government came to power urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu moved a proposal for the approval of the Union council of ministers for building a memorial for the former Prime Minister at “Ekta Sthal”.

It is now integrated with “Rashtriya Smriti” (a common place for memorials of former Presidents, Prime Ministers and others, with the approval of the Union Cabinet).

Mr Naidu visited the site on June 15 and had asked the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to complete the works relating to the memorial ghat for Rao ahead of the former Prime Minister’s birth anniversary on June 28. The work around the memorial is almost complete and anyone who wants to pay respect can visit the site, sources stated. Rao’s memorial is raised on a plinth in marble with a plaque bearing texts, recalling briefly his contributions.