Delhi, India Dec 27, 2024 (Issuewire.com) - Manmohan Singh, India's former Prime Minister and former Finance Minister dies at 92. The cerebral and soft-spoken leader was credited with far-reaching changes, propelling the country's emergence as an economic powerhouse. India Institute of Medical Sciences, the hospital where he was admitted and eventually died announced his death through a statement. India's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced his death on X (formerly Twitter), In his statement, Modi called Mr. Singh one of India's "most distinguished leaders." He posted, "India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji. 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."
Mr. Singh was always seen wearing his trademark powder-blue turban and became the country’s prime minister from India’s small Sikh minority. The Sikh community is concentrated in the northern state of Punjab. He was born in now Pakistan and belonged to a generation whose early lives were shaped by the mass migration following the 1947 India-Pakistan partition. This also helped him shape his personality which is showcased throughout his ministry and alliance with the Indian government. He was also one of the very few Prime Ministers who never shied away from the media. In fact, his fabled reticence made him sit for press conferences, even when the country’s economy was in shambles and the government was going through accusations of scandals.
In 1991, Mr. Singh came to public prominence as a finance minister and a former governor of India’s central bank. It was during his period that he oversaw several changes and reforms in the country’s economy. Changes to India’s economy made by him put more than 1.1 billion people in the country on a path to becoming a dynamic economic powerhouse. The changes also fueled a massive expansion in white-collar prosperity in the country. As a prime minister of coalition governments from 2004 to 2014, his office got crucial support from the Indian National Congress, a party created by Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, the founders of modern India.
Defining his legacy as a Prime Minster Sonia Gandhi, the Indian politician and the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress said in 2018, “Manmohan Singh became prime minister at a time when the country was on the edge, when its collective nerves were frayed and when its secular fabric was under assault.” “Within months, his persona and policies had a profound calming effect. The country once again had the assurance that the man at the very top was not a divisive person, that no group or individual need feel insecure,” she concluded.
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