Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh died on Thursday night after a brief hospitalisation. He was 92.
His death was announced at 10.30pm, a couple of hours after he was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Late in the night, the government announced a seven-day national mourning and cancelled all programmes scheduled for Friday.
According to a statement issued by AIIMS, Singh was being treated for age-related medical conditions and had a sudden loss of consciousness at home. “Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to the medical emergency at AIIMS, New Delhi, at 8.06pm. Despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 9.51pm.”
Within minutes of the announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a condolence message. “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…. As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with US President George Bush during a meeting in Hokkaido.
Born on September 26, 1932, in Gah village, West Punjab (now in Pakistan), Singh’s career cut across academia, policy-making and banking before he was roped into politics by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1991 and ushered in the economic reforms that changed India, scripting a lasting legacy years before circumstances made him Prime Minister in 2004.
From his humble origins — that he seldom talked about — Singh became an alumnus of both Cambridge and Oxford. Prior to becoming Prime Minister, he held practically every top economy-related office in the government — chief economic adviser, finance secretary, RBI governor, deputy chairman of the planning commission and
finance minister.
Singh had this vast experience to draw upon when Rao made him finance minister in 1991 and gave him just about a month to draw up a plan to pull India from the brink of an economic crisis.
“Singh’s sobriety and quiet dignity were his hallmarks, just as his experience as an economic administrator was unmatched…. None matched the combination of academic brilliance and wide administrative experience of Manmohan Singh,” wrote Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in his book, To The Brink and Back: India’s 1991 Story.
His much-mocked unassuming demeanour camouflaged a steely determination that surprised the nation when he staked his government to see through the India-US nuclear deal in 2008.
As India’s 13th Prime Minister, he was placed at the head of a rag-tag coalition backed by a very demanding Left but it was this government that moved India to a “rights-based welfare paradigm” where people were given the right to jobs, education, food and information.
One of his government’s biggest achievements was lifting 270 million people out of poverty in a decade and fairly insulating the country’s economy from the global financial crisis of 2008.
His first term as Prime Minister was widely regarded as among the best governments India had. The 2009 UPA victory was largely credited to him, with the great Indian middle class rooting for him. His second term in office was a picture in contrast, as the machinations of his colleagues weighed the government down and out.
A man of few words, Singh could deliver body blows without raising his voice or being scornful like his successor. When the Modi dispensation ordered the demonetisation in 2016, it was the already frail Singh who stood up to take on the “56-inch persona” of the Prime Minister, billing the move “organised loot and legalised plunder”. Singh was also the last Indian Prime Minister to address a press conference.
Though he seldom countered the criticism Modi heaped on him even after stepping down as Prime Minister, Dr Singh delivered a scathing criticism of his prospective successor when he said: “It will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of the country.”
As news of his death spread, a comment by Singh will perhaps be most remembered: “History will be kinder to me than the contemporary media.”