Former PM Manmohan Singh is no more

The end of the year can bring a certain kind of wistfulness over lost time and missed opportunities. Today is one such day. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who ushered in historic reforms and liberated India’s economy, is no more. Singh passed away late Thursday night. He was 92.

“History will be kinder to me,” he had remarked in his last speech as Prime Minister. Only a few individuals in public life can boast of having donned as many hats as Singh – chief economic advisor, economic affairs secretary, RBI Governor, Planning Commission deputy chairman, Finance Minister, and then the head of the government, twice, from 2004-14.

A man with humble beginnings, Singh rose to the pinnacle of power, silently shaping India as it is today. As Finance Minister in 1991, Singh turned the tide for India’s economy, focusing on liberalisation, privatisation, and opening up the economy. Singh catapulted Indo-US ties with the nuclear deal, making them strategic partners, a relationship that remains stronger still. His lasting legacy will perhaps be in the potent tool he left behind in the hands of citizens – the Right to Information Act.

The unlikely politician, however, did not have it easy. He was often attacked for being an “accidental PM” who let then-Congress president Sonia Gandhi steer his premiership. But as contributing editor Neerja Chowdhury writes in our pages, Singh proved time and again that he was no accident. In 2018, when Singh launched his book, Changing India, he responded to the criticism: “People say I was a silent Prime Minister… I would certainly like to say that I was not the Prime Minister who was afraid of talking to the press.”

As India bids farewell to Singh, a man with unfailing foresight, it’s only fitting to imbibe his lesson on looking ahead. Wrapping up his historic 1991 Budget speech, Singh had said, “Let the whole world hear it loud and clear. India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome.”