The Insider

The Insider is a roman à clef by P. V. Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India, that was first published in 1998. It was Rao's first novel and created a storm when excerpts from the original manuscript were published in the launch issue of the Outlook magazine in 1995. History P. V. Narasimha Rao had a long association with the literary world beginning with his founding of the Telugu magazine Kakatiya, dating back to his years of political activism against the Nizam's rule in Hyderabad. A polyglot, writer and translator in six Indian languages, Rao is credited with translating Thomas Gray’s Elegy and the Constitution of India into Telugu. Rao has also translated the Telugu Jnanapith awardee Viswanatha Satyanarayana’s Veyipadagalu into Hindi, and Hari Narayan Apte's Marathi novel Pan Lakshat Kon gheto into Telugu. He also wrote a short story in English titled "The Blue Silk Saree". When Rao began writing his novel, it was titled The Other Half. It told the story of Niranjan, a member of the Indian National Congress party who goes on to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. It was as much a novel as also a series of essays on independent India's history. Rao sent the completed manuscript to Nikhil Chakravartty, editor of Mainstream weekly. Rao was a long-time contributor to the weekly, writing under the pseudonym "Insider". Rao also contacted Mallika Sarabhai, who ran Mapin publishing house, and the New York literary agent Lynn Franklin who asked him to complete the novel for publication. Rao initially planned to end his novel with the end of Niranjan's term as chief minister. Rao, who had by this time served as a Union minister under Indira and Rajiv Gandhi was looking to retire politically, and had intended to complete The Other Half by 1991. However, he was called upon to become the Prime Minister of India. Rao then informed Franklin that he would keep the novel's publication in abeyance during his term in office. When Outlook magazine was launched in 1995 it was given the manuscript of The Other Half by Nikhil Chakravartty as a major scoop for the inaugural issue. Outlook, however, focused on the book's amorous passages, which infuriated Franklin and Rao. After the Congress comprehensively lost the elections the next year, Rao's resigned as Prime Minister and finally found time to complete his novel.