Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of India’s economic reforms in the 90s, passed away at 92 on Thursday. Singh was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, on Thursday evening after he suddenly lost consciousness at his home.
The government announced that Singh’s last rites will be performed with full state honours, and a national mourning for seven days will be observed. Congress-ruled governments in Karnataka and Telangana have declared a holiday on December 27.
The soft-spoken Singh was often derided by his opponents as “Maun (silent) Mohan Singh,” but he was known to act with firm resolve if the situation demanded it. The Congress itself got a glimpse of it in 2008 when Singh risked the survival of his own government by going ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal despite stiff opposition from the Left parties on whose support he depended, and against reservations within the Congress.
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Singh, who headed UPA I and UPA II governments from 2004 to 2014, had famously said, “history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament.” His quip came during an interaction with over 60 journalists in January 2014. Singh, who faced intense criticism over multiple corruption cases that dogged the UPA II government, had said that taking into account the circumstances and the compulsions of a coalition polity, he had done the best he could. The BJP had then, however, dubbed the 10-year-long tenure of Singh as a “wasted opportunity.”
“[Singh] preferred to be a blade of grass, which bends when the storm comes, rather than the tree, which stands up straight and falls. That is why he lasted for ten years.”Neerja Chowdhury Journalist-author
In an obvious reference to Singh’s prophetic words, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Thursday, “Undoubtedly, history shall judge you kindly, Dr. Manmohan Singh ji!.” Kharge also hailed Singh as “a visionary statesman, a leader of unimpeachable integrity, and an economist of unparalleled stature.”
Singh had not been well for quite some time, and after his retirement from the Rajya Sabha in April this year, had not been attending public events. In August last year, he had attended the Monsoon Session of Parliament in a wheelchair.
Artchitect of economic reforms
Singh is known for having introduced a number of bold economic reforms as Finance Minister in P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government in 1991 when India was grappling with a severe balance of payment crisis. The fiscal deficit was close to 8.5 per cent of the GDP and foreign reserves were just enough to pay for two weeks of imports. It was in such trying times that Singh initiated the economic reforms and revived the economy.
Many recall how Singh, in his first speech as Finance Minister in Parliament, had quoted French writer-politician Victor Hugo to hammer home the point that no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.
In her book How Prime Ministers Decide, journalist-author Neerja Chowdhury refers to Singh as “the underrated Prime Minister, who triumphed.” She adds: “An economist amongst politicians and a politician amongst economists—that is how Manmohan Singh was known in political circles. When he became finance minister—and prime minister in 2004—he was seen as a renowned economist, but a political novice. Later he was hailed as the author of economic reforms.”
Once he became Prime Minister, Singh presided over an expanding economy with a higher growth trajectory during his first term in office.
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Humble beginnings
Singh was born in a small village Gah (now in Pakistan) in 1932, which had no electricity, no school, and no health facility. The young Manmohan had to walk miles to reach his Urdu medium school. Winning scholarships, Singh studied in Cambridge and Oxford. He joined government service in 1971 and went on to become the Chief Economic Advsior; Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Governor of the RBI; and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, before becoming the Finance Minister in the Rao government. Interestingly, Singh, who served as RBI Governor in 1982 under the then-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, later appointed Mukherjee as Finance Minister in 2009.
Singh had to always take the Rajya Sabha route to go to Parliament and could not win the lone Lok Sabha election he contested from South Delhi in 1999. Singh was the only Sikh Prime Minister the country has had so far.
Not an automatic choice
Singh became Prime Minister in 2004 under dramatic circumstances after Sonia Gandhi, facing a controversy over her foreign origin, said no to the top post. But Gandhi, the then-Congress President and as the Chairman of the National Advisory Council, wielded immense power over the coalition government headed by Singh.
This led to a barrage of criticism, and Sanjaya Baru, Singh’s media advisor and chief spokesperson of the Prime Minister from May 2004 to August 2008, later wrote a controversial book The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh. The former Prime Minister had distanced himself from Baru and his work but the book offered enough ammunition to the BJP-led Opposition to target Congress for years.
Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi at the memorial of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi, on August 20, 2013. Singh became Prime Minister in 2004 under dramatic circumstances after Sonia Gandhi, facing a controversy over her foreign origin, said no to the top post.
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REUTERS
Addressing the Parliament on his last day as Prime Minister in May 2014, Singh had said: “As I have said on many occasions, my life and tenure in public office are an open book. I have always tried to do my best in serving this great nation of ours.”
Says Neerja Chowdhury: “He preferred to be a blade of grass, which bends when the storm comes, rather than the tree, which stands up straight and falls. That is why he lasted for ten years.” She recognises that Singh took enormous risks and put his government in jeopardy when it came to signing the nuclear deal but demonstrated that he could get his way.
Pranab Mukherjee recalls Singh as a “strong nationalist and a man of courage and conviction”. In his book The Coalition Years 1996-2012 that he penned after demitting the office of the President of India, Mukherjee says: “Singh was certainly not an accidental Prime Minister… Notwithstanding the debate regarding his appointment as prime minister, there could have been no one more experienced in economic policy making than Manmohan Singh… History will be kind to Manmohan Singh. It will remember him as the finance minister, who launched India’s economic reforms in 1991, and the Prime Minister, who presided over 8.5% GDP growth for most of a decade.”
‘Mentor and guide’
Condoling Singh’s death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “…rising from humble origins, he rose to become a respected economist. He served in various government positions as well, including as Finance Minister, leaving a strong imprint on our economic policy over the years. His interventions in Parliament were also insightful. As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.”
Rahul Gandhi said he lost a “mentor and guide” and recalled the “immense wisdom and integrity” with which Singh led India. Former Haryana Chief Minister and Congress veteran Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “Singh, a great economist of the world, a pioneer of economic reforms in India and one who, through his work, took the country forward on the path of progress and gave it a distinct identity across the world.”
Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi described him as “the father of India’s economic revolution” and a “perfect gentleman”.
