Champion of many reforms
He fought the cruel Nizam in his younger days
He detested caste prejudices as vermin
He was Father of Land Reforms
Sri Pamulaparthy Venkata Narsimha Rao
Champion of many reforms in a row
Born rich and worked for the poor
A leader of the most kindest core
As a student always stood first
Not in one or two but every subject
Brilliant in maths science and languages
In each area he excelled in all the phases
When crossing the district was an adventure
He travelled very far for academic future
His hunger for knowledge was as natural as for food
Every subject to its extreme limit he chewed
Quick to grasp and quickest to recall
Many a subject or Art was in his thrall
An ideal student of every teacher
For every friend he was a young preacher
He was as much a student as a sportsman
In many sports he was more than a layman
He had a great mind with finest taste
Physical adventures were no less his forte
Cosy life if he wanted he could have led
Hardships he embraced to help people freed
Goliath was his enemy in size and strength
Like David, in himself, he never lost faith
He fought the cruel Nizam in his younger days
With pen, voice and also self inflicting ways
He was born an upper caste brahmin
He detested caste prejudices as vermin
Humanity is the true religion he believed
From inhuman practices, many he relieved
He was Father of Land Reforms
He desired the landless should have farms
He knew that land lent the poor dignity
To fulfill their dreams he fought with tenacity
Staking his life for the Reforms he tried ordinance
He lost ministry but never regretted his stance
A true Gandhian, he led by example
He donated his own lands as a sample
Many of his kith and kin lived in poverty
When he was heading a Central Ministry
Such was his dedication to sincerity
He never compromised his integrity
In a field where cutting throats was a norm
He could survive without harming a worm
Politics is the toughest profession
In it he reached the top postion
Modern day Rajashri and a true STITHAPRAGNA
His greatness lay in his profound enigma
Only politician to have attained equanimity
He never allowed emotions dilute his duty
Extremes had never been his style
Middle path he followed all the while
In appearance and conduct he looked Indian
In outlook and action he was most modern
Learning to him was a life long passion
He saw in technology poverty’s redemption
Foremost leader in adopting I.T
He learnt and used computers at sixty
He was a Platonic philosopher Ruler
All round amelioration was his constant endeavour
Land, Educational and Economic Reforms
Benefitted people under his messianic charms
His broader vision broadened Ministry of education
He rechristened it as HRM n extended its horizon
In the State he first started residential schools for poor
So that the backwards get quality education for sure
His 1986 education policy was refocussed on basic education
Large scale teacher recruitment were his initiation
Navodaya schools were his pet project
To educate the rural poor was its object
Oil hungry India shied away from Israel
He befriended it without causing any turmoil
Same foresight he showed thru his Look east policy
To unhook India from the western dependency
He asserted that mutual cooperation of the countries east
Is the right answer to the hegemony of the west
He is the father of economic reforms
That lifted the nation out of financial doldrums
Stoop to conquer was a clever ploy
To save the nation, it,he did deploy
For country he agreed to pawn gold for loan
The policy many die hards did bemoan
But he was absolutely clear in his conviction
He was proved right by his policy’s vindication
Loans he took but dictates he did reject
Reforms with human face he did enact
He never compromised on the self respect
When necessary he was circumspect
No wonder India didn’t go Mexico way
He had on the polity complete sway
He could achieve so much through minority Government
When even political survival was an impossible attainment
He walked on the political n economic razor’s edge
But from his policies he never did budge
Not taking a decision was also decision
Was his best philosophical contribution
He was short on speech and long on action
He acted on his own though he heard every faction
He was neither Micheavelli nor Chanakya
He was a liberating emperor Vikramaditya.
BYÂ
PRASAD MANDUVA
AUTHOR IS A WRITER AND ACADEMICIAN
