He lies in his presidential address to Congressmen, claiming that the new changes were a continuation of Nehru’s old policies. To do this, he had to deploy the full range of his skills as a politician. Rao inherited an economy that was roughly where Sri Lanka is today, in red alert crisis mode, and propelled it to multidecadal growth. Rao’s most consequential move as PM – opening up the economy and liberating hundreds of millions of Indians from the clutches of the licence raj – deservedly gets a big chunk of the book. Of course, all the time, he is a spider, appearing immobile till the time to strike arrives.

So he acts diffident, and then suggests the name of an obviously unacceptable candidate, ND Tiwari. He must retain the appearance of being paralysed with grief. Decades in the Congress have taught him the pitfalls of showing too much ambition too easily. Rao is delighted, but senses a trap: “ Either was himself a dupe or he was party to some kind of design and was trying to lull me”. Pranab Mukherjee takes Rao aside and assures him that there was ‘general agreement’ on him taking over.

Yet, the jostling for the PM’s chair has begun. Rao is at 10, Janpath, ostensibly mourning with other Congressmen around a coffin containing what fragments remain of Rajiv’s body. The diary entry for, the day after Rajiv Gandhi was killed, is particularly fascinating. For five stormy years, Rao took up the crown and himself became king.ĭespite not being a formal historian, while writing this book, Vinay Sitapati displayed the spirit of enterprise that goes into making a good chronicler – he was able to impress Rao’s family enough to make them share his personal papers and, excitingly, the digital diary he maintained for a large part of his time in power. Replace London with Lutyens’ Delhi, the king’s court with the Nehru-Gandhi durbar, and it is clear who our Cromwell was: except, unlike his forerunner, Narasimha Rao’s vaulting ambition did not lead to him losing his head – at least not immediately. In her riveting three volume series on Thomas Cromwell, Hilary Mantel explores the wolfish ambition, feather-touch guile and unblinking sadism of the man who rose to become Henry VIII’s chief minister.

Half lion by vinay sitapati