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manmohan singh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away at 92, was instrumental in opening India's economy in 1991 and played a key role in the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal during his tenure. Despite facing criticism and allegations of corruption, he was recognized for his economic expertise and political resilience. His legacy includes a shift in India's foreign policy and a significant impact on the country's economic trajectory.

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9 views

manmohan singh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away at 92, was instrumental in opening India's economy in 1991 and played a key role in the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal during his tenure. Despite facing criticism and allegations of corruption, he was recognized for his economic expertise and political resilience. His legacy includes a shift in India's foreign policy and a significant impact on the country's economic trajectory.

Uploaded by

Akanksha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Gentleman politician Manmohan Singh opened up India’s economy in 1991

Before he became Finance Minister, he had held every top economic job, including RBI
Governor and Finance Secretary; the high point of his tenure as PM was his handling of
the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal; under him, there was also a gradual departure from the
Nehruvian approach to foreign policy
SANDEEP PHUKAN,
NEW DELHI

Illustration: r. rajesh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 92, who passed away on Thursday, though known as a
reluctant politician, pushed through the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal in 2008, the high point of his 10-
year Prime Ministership.
Despite being called an accidental PM, the economist-turned-politician almost single-handedly
turned the tables on the Left parties, which were providing outside support to the Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance, by securing the support of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in a crucial trust
vote in July 2008 over the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal.
Until then, relations between the Congress and the SP were one of suspicion and distrust as
Mulayam Singh 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 India’s trajectory in 1991, Dr.
Singh’s taking over as the country’s premier in 2004 was also a 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 superpowers, including the United States, on a more
equal footing.
Born in Gah in undivided Punjab (now in Pakistan) on September 26, 1932, Dr. Singh had a long
and illustrious career as a testament to the spirit of hard work that people affected by Partition
had often displayed.

Brilliant student
A brilliant student who had a first-class degree in economics from Cambridge University and a
D.Phil. from Oxford in the early 1960s, Dr. Singh had earned a reputation as an economist and
served in several top institutions.
Before he became India’s Finance Minister in 1991, at the age of 58, he had held every top
economic job: Chief Economic Adviser; 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 President of the United States, Barack Obama on the sidelines of a G-20 summit
in Toronto (Canada), praised Dr. Singh’s deep knowledge.
“I can tell you that here at G-20, 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 over the 2G spectrum allocations, coal block allocation and the Commonwealth Games
dominated the headlines.
Inflation and price rise made the common man angry, while corporates started talking about
‘policy paralysis’ under Dr. Singh.

Public disapproval
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 and 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 election.
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.

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