Sthanam Narasimha Rao Better -

Rao took the political bullet for the reforms. He faced down his own party (which had historically been socialist), the labor unions, and the opposition. He ended the "License Raj." He dismantled protectionism. He opened the gates to foreign investment.

When he died in 2004, the funeral was not attended by the pomp and ceremony usually reserved for a former PM. It was quiet. Scholarly. A reflection of the man himself. P.V. Narasimha Rao was not a charismatic leader. He did not wave a sword. He did not give thunderous speeches that made the crowd roar. He stammered slightly. He spoke in whispers.

He is the man who "opened" Israel without formally recognizing it (relations were established in 1992). He brought the "Look East" policy to life, pivoting India toward ASEAN nations, predicting the rise of China and the need for India to counterbalance it decades before it became fashionable. The Congress party, for a long time, neglected him because he wasn't from the "Gandhi family." He was a regional leader who rose on merit. After his tenure ended in 1996, and the Congress lost the election, Rao was sidelined. Worse, he was implicated in a bribery scandal (the JMM bribery case—from which he was later acquitted), and the party distanced itself from him.