December 26, 2024e-Paper
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December 26, 2024e-Paper
Updated – December 26, 2024 11:03 pm IST – New Delhi
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. File | Photo Credit: ANI
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 92, passed away late on Thursday (December 26, 2024), at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Dr. Singh retired as member of the Rajya Sabha, representing Rajasthan, in February this year. Before this, he represented Assam in the Upper House for six terms since 1991.
Showering praise on his last day in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him an “inspirational example”.
Also read: Manmohan Singh’s 1991 Budget: the day that changed India forever
“The way Manmohan Singh guided the country for a long time… Whenever our democracy will be mentioned, he will be one of those few esteemed members whose contribution will be always remembered,” Mr Modi had said.
Described as a reluctant politician, the high point of Dr. Singh’s 10-year long Prime Ministership was his handling of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal.
The economist-turned-politician almost single-handedly turned the tables on the Left parties — providing outside support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance — by securing the support of Samajwadi Party (SP) in a crucial trust vote in July 2008 over the India-U.S. nuclear deal.
Until then, relations between the Congress and SP was one of suspicion and distrust as Mulayam Singh Yadav had reneged on his promise of supporting a Congress-led government in 1996 after the fall of the 13-day old Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
However, the original Mr. Clean in Indian politics, Dr. Singh would be best remembered as the person who opened up India’s economy in 1991 as Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s trusted Finance Minister.
If his prescription to deal with the severe economic crisis changed Indian trajectory in 1991, Dr. Singh’s taking over as the country’s premier in 2004 was also turning point for India’s foreign policy.
Slowly, but surely, there was a gradual departure from the Nehruvian approach of non-alignment as his government sought to forge ties with super powers including United States on a more equal footing.
Born in Gah in undivided Punjab (now in Pakistan) on September 26, 1932, Dr. Singh’s long and illustrious career is a testament to the spirit of hard work that people affected by Partition have often displayed.
A brilliant student who had a first class degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a DPhil from Oxford in the early 1960s, Dr. Singh had earned a reputation as an economist and served in several top institutions.
Before he became Finance Minister in 1991, at the age of 58, he had held every top economic job: Chief Economic Advisor; Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission; Reserve Bank of India Governor and the Union Finance Secretary.
His ability to steer the country’s economy in the 1990s out of its worst crisis and political statesmanship to put India into the prestigious Nuclear Club won Dr. Singh many admirers internationally.
In 2010, former U.S. President Barrack Obama, on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Toronto (Canada) praised Dr. Singh’s deep knowledge.
Also read: When Singh speaks, people listen: Obama
“I can tell you that here at G20, when the Prime Minister speaks, people listen,” President Obama had said.
But that was also the time when Dr. Singh’s image at home took a beating as a string of alleged scams like the 2G spectrum allocations, coal block allocation and the Common Wealth Games dominated the headlines.
Inflation and price rise made the the common man angry, while corporates started talking about ‘policy paralysis’ under Dr. Singh.
In September 2013 — while Dr. Singh was on an official visit to the U.S. — then Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s public disapproval of a controversial ordinance prompted BJP veteran L.K. Advani to reiterate his charge that “Dr Singh was the weakest Prime Minister ever”.
The BJP routinely described him as someone who was “remote-controlled” by the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
But there was evidence to argue the opposite as well. He went ahead with the nuclear deal in 2008 against the party chief’s wish and risked the survival of his government. The Left parties had made it clear that they would withdraw political support to Dr. Singh if he went ahead with the nuclear deal.
When the Congress managed to win a second consecutive term in the 2009 Lok Sabha, the mainstream media had coined the term: “Singh is King”.
In July 2009, against his party’s wishes and popular mood, Dr. Singh took his chances with Pakistan and signed the joint statement with his then Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el-Sheikh.
Many strategists had questioned the statement that clubbed India’s demand to bring perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks with Pakistan’s concerns over terrorism in Balochistan. But the Prime Minister was convinced of the need to carry forward the composite dialogue process.
Allegations of corruption, driven by adverse audit reports under Comptroller & Auditor-General Vinod Rai, a mass movement for an anti-corruption ombudsman by Maharashtra-based activist Anna Hazare and street protests following Nirbhaya gang rape in December 2012 triggered a political storm that wiped out the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
In January 2014, addressing his last press conference as Prime Minister, Dr. Singh said, ”I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament.”
The spontaneous outpouring of grief at his passing away may have proven him right.
Published – December 26, 2024 10:43 pm IST
death / Indian National Congress
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