Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gestures during the ceremonial reception of Maldives President Abdulla Yameen at the forecourt of India’s presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on January 2, 2014.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

During his last days in office as Prime Minister in May 2014, Manmohan Singh jokingly told an aide he had never been busier. He said it seemed his work had only increased as he prepared to leave South Block after having headed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre for 10 years.

He was indeed extremely busy as he prepared to make way for the new occupant of the Prime Minister’s Office, Narendra Modi. He cleared pending files. There was a steady stream of visitors who called on him to bid him farewell. He also wrote to world leaders and called up many of them.

Singh was popularly seen in those days as a tragic figure, described by critics and political rivals as a Prime Minister who had, especially during the second half of the UPA’s 10-year-rule, presided over a corrupt government. He was also projected as a weak Prime Minister who had failed to establish his authority over his Cabinet. Indecision and policy paralysis were said to mark his government towards the end. His own party, the Congress, appeared to shun him. He was kept away from the Congress’ electioneering for the Lok Sabha election of 2014 and he did not campaign even in Punjab, where he had earlier been a star campaigner for the party.

Discussions about the legacy he would leave behind ended up focussing on the failings of UPA-II, overshadowing his earlier successes, which included liberalisation of the economy as Finance Minister in the 1990s and reshaping foreign policy as Prime Minister.

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However, people close to him said he went about wrapping up his work in the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) with his usual calm and equanimity and did not appear disheartened at all. They said he was actually in a “jolly mood” and in conversations with his close circle in the PMO he said he had done what he could and had no regrets.

His response to criticism that he did not communicate his side of the story adequately was that he could not indulge in slanging matches with his political opponents. Against criticism that he did not wield control over his ministers, his defence was that he was not a dictator and believed that the Prime Minister was first amongst equals in the Union Cabinet.

Singh was careful, though, that his name did not get dragged in any corruption scandal. In the wake of the many allegations of corruption against his government, he reportedly asked his staff to go through all the files that bore his signature.

Did he ever seriously consider resigning as Prime Minister? It is widely believed that Singh wanted to resign when the then Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi publicly criticised an ordinance the government was planning to bring to save convicted legislators from losing membership of the House. Rahul Gandhi had said the ordinance should be torn up and thrown in the dustbin. Singh was travelling abroad at that time, and Rahul’s comments were seen as an insult to him.

According to an official in Singh’s PMO, who was travelling with him, he did not get ruffled by news about Rahul’s statement. He saw the comments on YouTube and merely said he would deal with the matter when he returned to India. Singh, according to the former PMO official, did not offer to resign. The government later gave up plans of promulgating the ordinance.

It is learnt that the only occasion when Singh offered to step down was in 2008 when the India-US nuclear agreement was opposed by Left parties, which were supporting the UPA from outside. He faced criticism from within the Congress for going ahead with the deal despite widespread opposition to it in the country.

Also Read | Manmohan Singh: Architect of India’s economic reforms ends Rajya Sabha innings after illustrious career

As he was wrapping up his tenure, and his own party was muted in its acknowledgement of his prime ministerial years, praise came his way from the enemy camp. BJP leader Arun Jaitley wrote in his blog about Singh, saying he would like to read his memoirs if he were to write it. Jaitley wrote that he was especially interested in reading about Singh’s experience as Finance Minister during the 1991-96 period when he opened up India’s economy.

Singh never wrote a memoir. A couple of years after the end of the UPA era, when he was asked about why he did not write a memoir, he said, “The truth hurts. And I don’t want to hurt anyone”.

But even in his last days as Prime Minister, Singh was hardly worried about his legacy. According to an aide, he was convinced that there was no blemish on his own personal record in office. He was firm in his belief that once the dust kicked up by elections settled, people would see him in a different light. He believed that the people would realise that the 10 years of the UPA government under his leadership were good for the country.

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