Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to name Hyderabad Central University (HCU) after former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. The chief minister, in his letter to the Prime Minister, stated that there is a strong local public demand in Telangana to name the university after Narasimha Rao.
He requested the government to name the institution as PV Narasimha Rao Central University of Hyderabad.
The demand came on a day when the CM launched a year-long birth centenary celebrations of Narasimha Rao.
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, wrote that this would be the fitting tribute to Narasimha Rao during his birth centenary year. He recalled that the university was set up in 1974 as a result of Telangana agitation at that time under the six-point formula to address the imbalance in education infrastructure in Telangana.
The former Prime Minister was born in Telangana on June 28, 1921. "Although he is famously recognized as a leader who ushered in economic reforms to bring the stagnant economy of India on a trajectory of high growth at a time of unprecedented economic crisis in 1991, he was at the same time a multi-faceted son of India who contributed the growth of our nation in several other crucial spheres," reads the letter.
KCR also noted that Narasimha Rao's contribution to education policy and setting up of residential schools first at the state level and later in the form of Navodaya Schools at national level was a radical step to provide quality education to meritorious students from rural areas with poor economic background.
Earlier on Sunday, KCR inaugurated the 99th birth anniversary celebrations organised by his government by paying tributes to the late Congress leader at PV Gnana Bhoomi at Necklace Road on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake.
Addressing a meeting to mark the event, the Chief Minister described Narasimha Rao as a "360 degree personality" whose contributions encompass all fields..
He recalled that Rao launched economic reforms by making Manmohan Singh the finance minister. "His reforms are yielding the fruits today. It's thanks to PV that we are enjoying economic freedom," said KCR.
KCR has also demanded that the Centre confer a Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, on PV Narasimha Rao.
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IANS inputs