Sridhar Sattiraju interviews Vinay Sitapati, the author of Half Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India, about his experience in writing about India’s most unsung Prime Minister and the controversies surrounding it.
What made you select P.V. Narasimha Rao as the subject of your biography considering he was at the centre of many perfect storms during an eventful career? Did you ever, meet him?
I am only 32. I never met Narasimha Rao, neither am I from Andhra nor speak Telugu. It is this outsider status, I felt, that gave me complete objectivity. I only wrote what my interviews and archival research told me to be true, with no personal memories to cloud that. I am a child of the 1990s, my family was shaped by liberalisation. Then, 1.5 years back, I read a book called Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, and I knew a similar book was waiting to be written about India.
The biography is comprehensive because of the voluminous citations and annotations. What was the most difficult thing about writing this book? And what was the easiest?
There were two difficulties I had to grapple with: First, I had to balance telling a gripping narrative with meticulous research. I’ve footnoted everything. The second difficulty was to balance telling a policy story with telling a human story. The reader should know about the difference between devaluation and de-licensing; s/he should also know about Rao’s personal traits.
Did you reach out to all of Rao’s detractors to give a balanced view and were they as cooperative as P.V.R.K. Prasad, Chandraswami, Kalyani, Shankar, A.K. Sharma and Ramu Damodaran? How did you validate reporting on crucial matters like the nuclear testing, Babri Masjid episode, etc?
I spoke to many, many Congressmen and women. Unfortunately, I could name only a few like Satish Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid. The rest were worried that the high command would react badly, so I promised them anonymity. I also spoke to many of Rao’s critics like the bureaucrat K.R. Venugopal. In fact, some of Rao’s ardent fans are a bit upset with some parts of the book. Every bit of evidence is validated — either through interviews or personal verification of documents. I also took the help of experts — economists and diplomats — when writing about technical issues. I read around 200 books and articles for this biography. I re-checked every quote with the person who gave it to me. I think they trusted that I was a professional academic with no political axe to grind.
You have written that “every Prime Minister — no matter what their position — will have to learn from P.V. Narasimha Rao.” Do you think Narendra Modi will do well to take a leaf out of Rao’s accomplishments? What according to you is Rao’s legacy?
I deliberately avoid talking about Mr Modi or the present in the book. A political historian should not tailor his conclusions for the present. But yes, I do think Mr Modi has, initially at least, overestimated the extent of his mandate. Rao’s genius was that he was comfortable with political weakness; he knew how to convert that into strength. Mr Modi can certainly learn from that.
In spite of his origins in undivided Andhra Pradesh, you have been reticent in commenting on the impact Rao had on state politics. In your assessment, did Rao anticipate the seismic shifts that split the state into two? How did he impact state politics?
Though the book is principally about Rao the Prime Minister, I devote three chapters to his Andhra years. I don’t think Rao had a big impact on state politics. He was anti-bifurcation. He was also broadly a failure; he did not know how to navigate the politics of reforms in the state. Rao’s greatness was that he learnt from his failure as chief minister. That is why he was such an effective Prime Minister.
What was his family’s response to the book like? Why did you make it more political than a human-interest biography about Rao?
The book is both political as well as personal. I talk about his love affairs, his loneliness, his relationships with family and friends also. In fact, to understand Rao the politician, it is important to understand his personal quirks. Rao’s family has been amazing. They gave me access to his archives without imposing any censorship. I know they disagree with a few things in the book, but they have never sought to curb my freedom. I thank them for that.
Unlike the more salacious and juicy semi-autobiographical The Insider written by Rao, your book reads like a racy political thriller with only reverential insinuations about Rao’s personal affairs and associations. Is there a specific personality of Rao you wanted to project?
I don’t think I am reverential. I talk about his political corruptions (though he was personally honest) and his relationships in detail. The problem with The Insider is that it ends in 1973. It contains nothing about Rao the Delhi politician, the Prime Minister. That is the heart of the Rao story.
Can we expect more chapters to be added in the next editions, glimpses of his reading, his family life, his relationship with his children?
I don’t think I’ll add more chapters. But certainly, if some of the facts that I’ve mentioned turn out to be untrue, I’ll update the future editions. Luckily, no one has pointed to a single research error, though some of my opinions have been criticised.
How long did it take to turn the idea into a manuscript?
I literally took just a year to write. I began writing in April 2015 and submitted the manuscript in April 2016. I only signed the contract in January 2015.
Is Half Lion a pun on Rao’s name or is there more to it? You also allude him as fox, mouse and as a lion in one of the chapters…
I’ve tried to make it deeper. Narasimha Rao was an ambiguous, contradictory man. He knew how to change his tactics and disguises depending on the situation. He knew how to be a lion, a fox, and a mouse — depending on the situation. The problems India faced in 1991 needed a contradictory leader to solve them. Rao had to know when to win, when to lose and when to be deceitful. His ability to be only half a lion was the reason why, in my judgment, he is the most consequential Indian Prime Minister since Nehru.
