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Rank Indian prime ministers


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3 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Rao>Indira>Vajpayee>Nehru>Shastri

 

Others are meh and Modi hasn't impressed me much.

Indira's economic and social blunders as well as her hand in Sikh killings had tainted her record forever.

1971 was won by our brave Generals. Sure she was the PM then but imo they give her way too much credit for it.

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13 minutes ago, Stradlater said:

Indira's economic and social blunders as well as her hand in Sikh killings had tainted her record forever.

1971 was won by our brave Generals. Sure she was the PM then but imo they give her way too much credit for it.

1. Unlike Vajpayee (Kargil) at least she didn't interfere in Army matters thus helping them work effectively. Vajpayee was instructing our generals about war strategy and imposing terms and conditions. Indira gave Sam Bahadur full liberty to chart his course of action.

 

2. Never bowed before the Americans, tackled the deadliest duo of Nixon-Kissinger with aplomb. Our dear 56" can't handle a Nikki Haley. 

 

3. Nationalization of private sector banks.

 

4. Pokhran-I

 

5. Green Revolution albeit the seeds of its success were sown before her time.

 

6. Operation Flood-> we became milk surplus

 

I agree she had many negatives, that is why she won't be at pole position. In fact that applies to both her and her father, both had stellar achievements still.

 

Edited by Gollum
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Modi or Rao... take your pick. Both fought against a system doing everything to make sure they lost. Vajpayee was never PM material imo. He would have been better as well party president. His oratory and ability to connect with masses would have yielded BJP many more victories if he was handling the party. Advani and Modi type hardcore ideologues are the only ones who can become PM. However, I still don’t forgive advani for his Jinnah comment. I don’t think he believed an ounce of what he was saying but at that point, he was completely desperate to become PM

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Just now, Gollum said:

1. Unlike Vajpayee (Kargil) at least she didn't interfere in Army matters thus helping them work effectively. Vajpayee was instructing our generals about war strategy and imposing terms and conditions. Indira gave Sam Bahadur full liberty to chart his course of action.

 

2. Never bowed before the Americans, tackled the deadliest duo of Nixon-Kissinger with aplomb. Our dear 56" can't handle a Nikki Haley. 

 

3. Nationalization of private sector banks.

 

4. Pokhran-I

 

5. Green Revolution albeit the seeds of its success were sown before her time.

 

6. Operation Flood-> we became milk surplus

 

I agree she had many negatives, that is why she won't be at pole position. In fact that applies to both her and her father, both had stellar achievements.

 

I can agree with the first two points but the rest I'm sorry don't really make a strong case for her. She simply happened to be PM at the time when the green revolution, Op flood and Pokhran test were conducted. The seeds for all three have been sown way before she was elected as Prime Minister and it was only a matter of time after that.

 

I believe her first term as office was really good. She was much sensible and prudent at that time and had balls(no pun intended) to stand for her cause.

It was only after that managing to grab power at any cost seemed to take over her mind and she did all that was possible to stay in the top position.

 

Don't forget it was her who propped up the extremist Sikh elements in Punjab to counter SAD and when the Frankenstein's monster turned at her it was too late.

I have always believed , and with good reasons, that marching tanks in the holy premises of Golden Temple was an extremely foolish idea(not to mention the specific date they chose). Imagine some Indian PM doing that to Jama Masjid in Delhi. All hell will break loose and we would be heading to an another partition.

Infact I respect Sikhs of India for moving on from the tragedy.

 

She was a strong willed woman no doubt about that but way too whimsical imo.

 

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25 minutes ago, Gollum said:

@Stradlater IG also propped up LTTE which had ramifications later on. I mean we fault Pakistan for interfering in Kashmir but we did the same with the Lankans.

That's true and look how Gandhi family paid the price. Both mother and son died at the hands of those they helped mushroomed in the first place.

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Hard to rank as they all had their pros and cons. Nehru is probably the 2nd worst considering his tenure, the mistakes he made in handling Tibet and Kashmir issues, in assessing China, tilting towards the communist block, etc. .... The worst probably is VP Singh for the mandal politics .... then there was this bunch of Devi Godwa, Gujral, etc., which is hard to even visualize as PMs

 

Because of the internal dynamics including with demographics, Ind is facing serious challenges currently, so Modi has the opportunity to be considered among the best 

 

Considering how Ind is structured, it can benefit from either a strong personality (Sardar,  Modi, etc) or a visionary (Likes of Abdul Kalam, Vajpayee, etc) as its PM 

Edited by zen
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I guess Rao probably edges out Vajpayee for #1 for now, although they are pretty much equal. They are equal on the cultural front (Rao was better but Vajpayee more inspirational). 

 

Rao: did the first sustained economic reforms, but he was basically forced to do it by the IMF. He had files (from the CBI iirc) on other prominent Congress and Opposition members to help him get leverage over them and push through the reforms. However,  that was a temporary thing. Congress leadership was ambivalent on reforms, ie  

ManMohan said liberalization went too far

 

Rao had 0 place in the imagination on INC members. BJP types celebrate him more. He was basically in the wrong party.

 

Vajpayee: A person who approached economic reform with actual intent and handed over a booming economy to ATG super-economist Manmohan Singh :eviltongue:. Too bad he was weak domestically and didn't try hard enough to defeat his opponents. He ended up losing and handing over the country to the worst people in history, Vinci parivaar and the robot.

 

Modi is probably going to be better than both, but he is TBD as he is still in power. A second term with economic reforms would guarantee him being better than these two.

 

Worst

1) Nehru- 

2) Indira- 

3) Rajiv-  

 

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2 hours ago, Gollum said:

1. Unlike Vajpayee (Kargil) at least she didn't interfere in Army matters thus helping them work effectively. Vajpayee was instructing our generals about war strategy and imposing terms and conditions. Indira gave Sam Bahadur full liberty to chart his course of action.

 

2. Never bowed before the Americans, tackled the deadliest duo of Nixon-Kissinger with aplomb. Our dear 56" can't handle a Nikki Haley. 

 

3. Nationalization of private sector banks.

 

4. Pokhran-I

 

5. Green Revolution albeit the seeds of its success were sown before her time.

 

6. Operation Flood-> we became milk surplus

 

I agree she had many negatives, that is why she won't be at pole position. In fact that applies to both her and her father, both had stellar achievements still.

 

Poverty in her time increased very much.Almost all MNC companies left India, even to buy a bajaj scooter you had to wait 5 years.Where other countries like South Korea were growing rapidly Indian economy was stagnated

 

As for 1971 , Soviet union was firmly behind India that was main reason she was so bold.

 

Please tell me what she did to safeguard the interest of BD Hindu's?

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@zen @Stradlater Indira Gandhi had one under appreciated trait, she was a rare PM who brought environmental issues to the forefront. She pushed through the Wildlife Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and various other pollution related acts. Even Project Tiger was launched under her watch, plus she was patron of many wildlife conservation and research groups. There are other details which I can't recall but remember reading an article which discussed this facet of her life, even when removed from politics she was a keen environmentalist. Unlike today in those days environment wasn't a talking point and awareness was low, which makes her actions even more impressive. Of course most things are named after the Nehru family but perhaps Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (training academy of Indian Forest Officers) is aptly named just like the other 2 academies for AIS Officers: Sardar Patel for Police Academy and Lal Bahadur Shastri for Administration Academy.

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1 minute ago, Gollum said:

@zen @Stradlater Indira Gandhi had one under appreciated trait, she was a rare PM who brought environmental issues to the forefront. She pushed through the Wildlife Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and various other pollution related acts. Even Project Tiger was launched under her watch, plus she was patron of many wildlife conservation and research groups. There are other details which I can't recall but remember reading an article which discussed this facet of her life, even when removed from politics she was a keen environmentalist. Unlike today in those days environment wasn't a talking point and awareness was low, which makes her actions even more impressive. Of course most things are named after the Nehru family but perhaps Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (training academy of Indian Forest Officers) is aptly named just like the other 2 academies for AIS Officers: Sardar Patel for Police Academy and Lal Bahadur Shastri for Administration Academy.

I rate Indira in the top tier.  She also understood the demerits of over population. Her speeches were good too in a sense that you could say she had leadership qualities: 

 

 

 

 

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24 minutes ago, Singh bling said:

Poverty in her time increased very much.Almost all MNC companies left India, even to buy a bajaj scooter you had to wait 5 years.Where other countries like South Korea were growing rapidly Indian economy was stagnated

 

As for 1971 , Soviet union was firmly behind India that was main reason she was so bold.

 

Please tell me what she did to safeguard the interest of BD Hindu's?

I didn't say she was faultless.

 

USSR was behind India, agree but she nurtured that relationship. When 7th fleet entered Bay of Bengal she immediately flew to Moscow and signed 25 years Friendship Treaty with Brezhnev, Russian submarines stationed themselves behind U.S Navy and we got the green signal to proceed against Pak. At least she had a policy back then. Contrast that to Modi, God only knows the status of our relations with the powerful countries. I mean if Nikki Haley can come to Delhi and walk all over 56" I don't think ballads about the success of Indo-US friendship can be believed. Russia is cut off, China is pissed off, Iran is nervous, Modi didn't attend NATO meet, neighboring countries are at loggerheads with us.....I have never seen our foreign policy this confused. At least in those days we were decisive and thick friends with some major bloc. 

 

She allowed 10 million refugees into India, majority being Hindus. Today we can't allow 100 Rohingya Hindus from Cox's Bazar, Pak Hindus are turned away cruelly because they can't pay electricity bill......she allowed 10 million !!!! There is a reason Muslim population in the 1971-1981 period in WB grew very slowly despite huge difference in TFR between Hindus and Muslims there. Plus many Hindus were resettled in Central India. She has done more for overseas Hindus than any other PM, even the likes of Vajpayee and Modi who can only talk big but do little.

Edited by Gollum
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19 minutes ago, Gollum said:

@zen @Stradlater Indira Gandhi had one under appreciated trait, she was a rare PM who brought environmental issues to the forefront. She pushed through the Wildlife Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and various other pollution related acts. Even Project Tiger was launched under her watch, plus she was patron of many wildlife conservation and research groups. There are other details which I can't recall but remember reading an article which discussed this facet of her life, even when removed from politics she was a keen environmentalist. Unlike today in those days environment wasn't a talking point and awareness was low, which makes her actions even more impressive. Of course most things are named after the Nehru family but perhaps Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (training academy of Indian Forest Officers) is aptly named just like the other 2 academies for AIS Officers: Sardar Patel for Police Academy and Lal Bahadur Shastri for Administration Academy.

You raise a very very good point Smeagol. Its astounding that not many people know about her environmental efforts and how she was one of the few international leaders who drew the world's attention to the danger climate change posed to the future of the whole humanity at the time when Climate change was considered hoax by most world leaders (heck even now we have Trumps of the world calling it fake news).

 

Indira was the only head of government, other than the host prime minister, to speak at the first-ever United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. The date on which the conference had opened — June 5 — was marked to be celebrated every year as World Environment Day.

 

Yes this is one aspect of her life that I as a keen environmentalist truly appreciates.

In fact It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that she single handedly changed the environment conservation scene in India and for that we will eternally be grateful of her.

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