The Man Who Remade India ― A Biography of P.v. Narasimha Rao

When P.V. Narasimha Rao became the unlikely prime minister of India in 1991, he inherited economic catastrophe, violent insurgencies and a nation adrift. Yet because he was unloved by his people and mistrusted by his own party-a minority in Parliament and ruling under the shadow of Sonia Gandhi-Rao lacked the mandate to combat these crises. Yet, Rao was not just able to last a full five years as Prime Minister, he reinvented India, at home and abroad. Few world leaders have achieved so much with so little power.

With exclusive access to Rao's never-before-seen personal papers as well as over a hundred interviews, Vinay Sitapati's definitive biography tells the story of India's makeover in the 1990s and the story of the Deng Xiaoping-like figure who did it. Assuming power over an ossified, quasi-socialist economy burdened by inefficient industrial behemoths, Rao was instrumental in driving through a broad set of liberalizing economic reforms that transformed India. Rao's career is the ideal window through which to understand how India became a force in the global economy almost overnight. Sitapati traces Rao's life from a village in Telangana through his years in power and-afterward-his humiliation in retirement. Yet the book never loses sight of the inner man-his difficult childhood, his corruptions and love affairs, and his lingering loneliness. Meticulously researched and honestly told, this landmark political biography is a must-read for anyone interested in the man responsible for transforming India.

Vinay Sitapati is a political scientist, journalist and lawyer. He teaches at Ashoka University and writes for the Indian Express. He recently completed a Ph.D. in politics at Princeton University.