MANMOHAN Singh (pic), the former Indian prime minister whose economic reforms made his country a global powerhouse, has died at the age of 92, current leader Narendra Modi said.
India “mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders,” Modi posted on social media platform X shortly after news broke of Singh’s passing.
“As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.”
Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home on Thursday, but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9.51pm local time, according to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The government announced seven days of state mourning yesterday.
“As a mark of respect for the departed dignitary, it has been decided that seven days of state mourning will be observed throughout India,” it said in a statement yesterday, with mourning running until Jan 1.
Mark of respect: The Indian national flag flying half-mast at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. — AFP
“It has also been decided that the state funeral will be accorded to late Dr Manmohan Singh,” it said, with the national flag fluttering at half-mast on official buildings across the country.
Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, is credited with having overseen an economic boom in Asia’s fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint.
“I have lost a mentor and guide,” opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a statement, adding that Singh had “led India with immense wisdom and integrity.”
“Millions of us who admired him will remember him with the utmost pride,” said Gandhi, a scion of India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the most prominent challenger to Modi.
Mallikarjun Kharge, opposition leader in parliament’s upper house, said “India has lost a visionary statesman, a leader of unimpeachable integrity, and an economist of unparalleled stature.”President Droupadi Murmu wrote on X that Singh will “always be remembered for his service to the nation, his unblemished political life and his utmost humility.”
Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in India and never held elected office before taking the vast nation’s top job.
Put to rest: Modi laying a wreath as he pays last respects to Singh at his residence in New Delhi. — AFP
He won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his PhD.
Singh worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies including the United Nations.
He was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history.
In his first term, Singh steered the economy through a period of 9% growth – lending India the international clout it had long sought.
He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the United States that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs.
Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won.
But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Modi, won in a landslide.
Singh – who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors – became a vocal critic of Modi’s economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India’s democracy.
India’s cricket team battling hosts Australia in the fourth Test took to the ground in Melbourne yesterday with black armbands to show respect for Singh.
The official date for the state funeral was not announced immediately but a senior member of the Congress party suggested it would be held later today. — Agencies
