Hyderabad: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi couldn’t go to the statue of former prime minister Narasimha Rao due to “safety causes”, the late chief’s son advised ThePrint.
Rao’s son P.V. Prabhakar Rao advised ThePrint that he went to the spot at Necklace Highway, the place his father’s statue stands just a few ft away from former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s, after he was advised that Rahul would go to the spot.
“A couple of leaders from Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee invited me Tuesday morning to be current at my father’s statue. They advised me that Rahul Gandhi would garland P.V. Narasimha Rao’s statue. I did go however that didn’t occur,” Prabhakar advised ThePrint. “I used to be advised [that] attributable to safety causes, Rahul couldn’t come to the statue, [and that] the exit was deliberate in one other means.”
The statue stands on the banks of Hussain Sagar and was unveiled in June 2021 as a part of the Telangana authorities’s year-long centenary celebrations for Rao’s birthday.
Prabhakar, the youngest son of Narasimha Rao, additionally mentioned that senior Congress chief and Rajya Sabha member Digvijay Singh referred to as on him and “conveyed his apologies”, including that “Rahul Gandhi additionally felt unhealthy about not having the ability to make a cease on the statue”.
“One will clearly really feel unhealthy if such a factor occurs, however I go away it to their knowledge as to why Rahul Gandhi didn’t come to P.V. Narasimha Rao’s statue, The leaders additionally advised me how the unique plan of the Bharat Jodo Yatra for that day didn’t have RG’s go to scheduled to my father’s statue,” he mentioned, including that it was additionally darkish by the point of Rahul’s go to to his grandmother’s statue.
Rahul had kicked up a political row Tuesday when he paid homage to his late grandmother Indira and even addressed a nook assembly, however skipped Rao’s statue only a few metres away. The Gandhi scion is at the moment in Telangana leg of the Congress social gathering’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
The Telangana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration criticised Rahul for ignoring Rao’s statue.
“Rahul Gandhi paid homage to the statue of Indira Gandhi on Necklace Highway and to not the close by statue of P.V. Narasimha Rao. Why not pay homage to Rao’s statue? Is that this the tradition of Congress?” BJP’s Nationwide OBC Morcha president Okay. Lakshman mentioned, including that Rahul ought to apologise to “the folks of Telangana”.
“This reveals disrespect in the direction of their very own leaders,” BJP chief N.V. Subhash — additionally Narasimha Rao’s grandson — mentioned.
Rao was India’s tenth prime minister who’s credited with introducing liberal reforms within the nation within the early 90s.
ThePrint reached Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy’s workplace and Congress’s communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh through textual content for his or her feedback. This report shall be up to date when a response is acquired.
Additionally Learn: Narasimha Rao to Narendra Modi — New e book tracks journey of India’s financial reforms since 1991
Soured ties
The connection between the Gandhis and Rao has seen its share of ups and downs.
Rao had almost retired from energetic politics when former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. Rajiv’s widow Sonia then selected Rao to steer the newly-elected Congress authorities.
Quickly, nevertheless, fissures appeared between Rao and Sonia over quite a lot of points, together with investigations into the Bofors gun rip-off. Sonia was additionally reportedly upset with Rao over the financial reforms that he launched and likewise his resolution to take an unbiased course.
Issues lastly got here to a head in 1995, when Sonia was reportedly upset on the “gradual tempo” of investigations into her husband’s assassination. Interactions between the 2 turned fewer, as did Rao’s visits to 10 Janpath — the Gandhis’ residence.
Rao’s tenure as prime minister from 1991 to 1996 was additionally rife with a number of controversies, probably the most obvious amongst them being the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.
After the Congress rout in 1996, Rao was pressured to step down as Congress chief and was ostracised by the social gathering for a few years.
So deep went the bitterness that when he died in 2004, his physique wasn’t allowed contained in the Congress headquarters at 24, Akbar Highway. As a substitute, it was stored on the pavement outdoors the gates, the place each Sonia and Manmohan Singh, who was then the prime minister, paid their homage to the departed chief.
A number of political events have since criticised the Congress over its therapy of Rao. At a e book launch in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of getting did not acknowledge Rao’s contribution to the nation.
Telangana chief minister Okay. Chandrashekar Rao’s 2020 year-long centenary celebration of Rao’s delivery anniversary was additionally seen as a political message to the Congress.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Additionally Learn: When economics defeated ideology in India and the three males behind it