Former Indian Prime Minister dies at 92 | Global News Avenue

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away at the age of 92.

Singh is one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers and is considered the architect of key liberalizing economic reforms. He served as prime minister from 2004 to 2014 and as finance minister before that.

He was admitted to a hospital in the capital Delhi after his health reportedly deteriorated.

Among those paying tribute to Singh on Thursday were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wrote on social media that “India mourns the death of one of its most distinguished leaders.”

Modi said Singh’s “wisdom and humility were always visible” in their interactions and that he had “made extensive efforts to improve the lives of people” during his tenure as prime minister.

Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and a member of the Congress Party, said that Singh “was a true egalitarian, wise, strong-willed and courageous till the end of his life”.

Her brother Rahul, who leads the Congress, said he had “lost a mentor and mentor”.

Singh is the first Indian leader since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing his first term, and the first Sikh to hold the country’s highest office. He publicly apologized in Parliament for the 1984 riots that killed about 3,000 Sikhs.

But his second term was marred by a series of corruption allegations that dogged his administration. Many say the scandals were part of the reason his Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the 2014 election.

Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in a desolate village in the undivided Indian province of Punjab, which lacked both water and electricity.

After attending Panjab University, he earned his master’s degree at Cambridge University and then his PhD at Oxford University.

Lack of funds plagued Singh while he was studying at Cambridge, his daughter Daman Singh wrote in a book about her parents.

“His tuition fees and living expenses are about 600 pounds per year. The scholarship from Punjab University gives him about 160 pounds. For the rest he has to rely on his father. Manmohan lives cautiously and stingily. The meal allowance in the canteen is relatively cheap, two A shilling and sixpence.”

Daman Singh recalls that her father was “completely clueless about the house, could neither boil eggs nor turn on the television.”

Singh rose to political prominence in 1991 when he took over as India’s finance minister when the country was mired in bankruptcy.

His surprise appointment capped off a long and illustrious career as an academic and civil servant – he served as an economic adviser to the government and became the governor of India’s central bank.

In his first speech as finance minister, he quoted Victor Hugo: “No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”

It became the launching pad for an ambitious and unprecedented economic reform program: He cut taxes, devalued the rupee, privatized state-owned enterprises and encouraged foreign investment.

In the 1990s, the economy recovered, industry recovered, inflation was contained, and growth rates continued to remain high.

Manmohan Singh was acutely aware of his lack of political base. “It’s good to be a politician, but to be a politician in a democracy you first have to win elections,” he once said.

In 1999, when he tried to win India’s Lok Sabha elections, he failed. Instead, he sits in the House of Lords, elected by his own Congress party.

The same happened in 2004, when Congress president Sonia Gandhi rejected Singh’s appointment as prime minister for the first time – apparently to protect the party from damage caused by his Italian origins sexual assault. Yet critics claim that Sonia Gandhi was the real source of power during her tenure as prime minister and that he never really took charge.

The biggest victory of his first five-year term was the signing of a landmark deal ensuring access to US nuclear technology, lifting India out of nuclear isolation.

But the deal came at a price – the government’s communist allies withdrew their support after protests, and Congress had to make up for lost support by enlisting the support of another party amid accusations of vote buying.

Singh was a consensus builder, leading a coalition of sometimes-difficult, autocratic and potentially unruly regional alliance allies and supporters.

Although he gained respect for his integrity and intelligence, he was also known for his weakness and indecision. Some critics claim the pace of reforms has slowed and he has failed to achieve the same momentum as finance minister.

When Singh led the Congress party to a decisive victory in the second election in 2009, he vowed that the party would “rise to the occasion”.

But the luster soon began to wear off, and his second term was in the news for mostly the wrong reasons: several scandals involving cabinet ministers, which allegedly cost the country billions of dollars, and a parliament that was mired in opposition And the gridlock, and the huge policy paralysis, led to a severe economic recession.

LK Advani, a senior leader of the rival Bharatiya Janata Party, called Singh India’s “weakest prime minister”.

Manmohan Singh defended his record, saying his government had “the utmost commitment and devotion to the welfare of the country and its people”.

Singh adopted the pragmatic foreign policy pursued by his two predecessors.

He continued to advance the peace process with Pakistan, although it was hampered by attacks by Pakistani militants, culminating in the November 2008 shooting and bombings in Mumbai.

He sought to end the border dispute with China by brokering a deal to reopen the Nathu La Pass into Tibet, which had been closed for more than 40 years.

Singh increased financial support for Afghanistan and became the first Indian leader to visit the country in nearly 30 years.

He also appeared to end ties with India’s old ally Iran, angering many opposition politicians.

A studious former academic and bureaucrat, he was known for being humble and always keeping a low profile. His social media accounts are mostly known for boring entries and a limited number of followers.

He was a man of few words, but his calm demeanor won him many admirers.

Responding to a question about the coal scandal involving the illegal allocation of billions of dollars’ worth of licenses, he defended his silence on the issue, saying it was “better than thousands of answers.”

In 2015, he was summoned to appear in court to answer charges of criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and corruption-related offences. A distraught Singh told reporters he was “open to legal scrutiny” and that “the truth will prevail.”

As prime minister, despite his advanced age, Singh remained deeply involved in the issues of the day as a senior leader of the main opposition Congress party.

In August 2020, he told the BBC in a rare interview that India needed to take three steps “immediately” to curb the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has plunged the country’s economy into recession.

He said the government needed to provide direct cash assistance to people, provide capital to businesses and repair the financial sector.

History will remember Singh as leading India out of economic and nuclear isolation, although some historians may argue that he should have retired sooner.

“I sincerely believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the opposition in Parliament,” he said in a 2014 interview.

Singer is survived by his wife and three daughters.