There is no doubt that all humans are born to die, but some people never die even after their death and are remembered and talked about forever: for the roles they play in their lives and the legacies they leave behind for posterity to learn and benefit from. And that is why these people are seen as ‘legends’ or ‘heroes.’ One such superhuman was Sardar Manmohan Singh, the erstwhile Prime Minister of India who breathed his last in New Delhi on Thursday, the 26th of December, 2024, at the age of 92, due to some age-related medical conditions. Mr Singh's passing is doubtlessly a Brobdingnagian loss for India.
Manmohan Singh-ji was an architect of India's economic liberalisation, who, in 2004, created history by becoming the first Sikh Prime Minister of the country. Not only this, Singh was the fourth-longest-serving Prime Minister of India after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi. He was also the first PM since Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.
Mr Singh was born to Gurmukh Singh Kohli and Amrit Kaur on the 26th of September, 1932, in the small Punjabi hamlet of Gah, (near Chakwal, Pakistan), into a family of Punjabi Sikh dried fruit traders of Khatri background. His family migrated to India amid its partition in 1947. His grandfather Sant Singh was mercilessly butchered in the sectarian violence which erupted during the Partition, an event that traumatised Singh throughout his life. His mother passed away leaving him in the care of his grandmother Jamna Devi, when he was very young. Manmohan was brought up by his paternal grandmother, who he was very close to as well. His life was full of hardships and sufferings but despite all this, his graceful personality never lost the touch of humbleness, and he always managed to stay composed and patient in every ordeal, no matter how hard it was.
After getting his initial education from the local Government School, Singh secured admission at Hindu College, Amritsar. He also attended the Panjab University where he studied Economics and got his bachelor's degree in 1952, standing first throughout his academic career. He completed his Economics Tripos at University of Cambridge in 1957, and soon pursued a doctorate at the University of Oxford. His thesis on "India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth" accentuated his vision and finesse in development economics, laying the foundation for his future as an economist.
Then Singh returned to India and started teaching as a senior lecturer of economics at Panjab University from 1957 to 1959, after the completion of his DPhil degree. He also served as an economics reader in the same university between 1959 and 1963, and from 1963 to 1965 he worked as an economics professor there. Later, he was appointed as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Trade by Lalit Narayan Mishra, in recognition of Singh's talent as an economist.
His government worked to provide free healthcare facilities to the common people of the country, and in this regard it launched the National Rural Health mission, which mobilised half a million community health workers
Manmohan Singh's political career began in June 1991, when India's then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, made Singh his Finance Minister, allowing him full rein. At the time India was grappling with an unprecedented economic crisis which was so extreme that the government had to mortgage its gold reserves to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But Mr Singh, as a finance minister introduced some sound economic reforms that not just steered India out of that severe economic crisis, but also transformed India into a global economic powerhouse. India's long-time cabinet member P Chidambaram, in praise of Dr Singh's work that pushed India towards a market economy, has compared Singh's role in the country's reforms to that of Deng Xiaoping in China.
From 1998 to 2004, while the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, Singh was the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In 1999, he contested for the Lok Sabha from South Delhi but failed to secure the seat. But in 2004, a victorious Mrs Sonia Gandhi surprised everyone when she chose Dr Manmohan Singh to be her prime minister, and thus he became the 13th primer of India. Singh, who held India's highest political office on 22 May, 2004, stayed in the office for a prolonged period of ten years, for his re-election as Premier on 16 May 2009, and bade adieu to the office on 26 May 2014.
After becoming the premier, he had worked indefatigably hard for the progress of India and within years turned India from a laggard into one of the greatest economies of the world. Along with his Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Singh presided over a period where the Indian economy grew at an 8-9% rate. In 2007, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9% and became the second fastest growing major economy in the world.
In 2008, Manmohan Singh risked nigh everything they had for a landmark nuclear deal with the US, which put an end to a 30-year American ban on nuclear trade with India and more importantly it reshaped India's global standing. In 2009, he achieved a significant milestone when Brazil, India, China, Russia, and South Africa teamed up into a group called the BRICS. His government also worked to provide free healthcare facilities to the common people of the country, and in this regard it launched the National Rural Health mission, which mobilised half a million community health workers. This initiative was highly applauded by US economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Manmohan Singh survived as India’s Prime Minister for 10 years, serving two consecutive terms. In his first, he basked in the sunshine of general optimism. But in his second, he came under a cloud of financial scandals. To list down major ones: the 2G spectrum case, the Commonwealth Games scandal and coal block allocations. Even after these scandals, Dr Singh's personal reputation was never besmirched. But the wrongdoings of his fallible colleagues brought him under sheer criticism.
If we consider Manmohan Singh's personal life, unlike his political life, it was very peaceful. He tied the wedding knot with Gursharan Kaur in 1958, with whom he had three daughters, Upinder Singh, Daman Singh and Amrit Singh. He was a loving and devoted husband and a caring father. His strong dedication to education is demonstrated by anecdotes from his family, such as his daughters' academic and literary achievements.
Manmohan Singh's example of selfless leadership was his gift to India. He showed that he could change India without allowing India to change him, by staying true to himself when others were not. Before concluding this piece, I want to pen down a few words, that touched my heart, from Manmohan Singh's last press conference. He said:
"I do not believe that I have been a weak Prime Minister. I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media."
Indeed, he was a very strong and shrewd prime minister but his cabinet members failed in every possible way that they could. Though Manmohan Singh is not with us in this world anymore, he will never be forgotten and will always be missed by his admirers. May the departed soul rest in eternal peace. Amen!