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Described as a “reluctant king” in his first stint as prime minister, the soft-spoken Manmohan Singh, who died on Thursday aged 92, was arguably one of India’s most successful leaders.
Singh, the first Sikh to lead his nation, was prime minister from 2004 to 2014, serving a rare two terms. He had been undergoing treatment for age-related medical conditions.
He is credited with steering India to unprecedented economic growth and lifting hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty. He went on to serve a rare second term.
“India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
He applauded the work of the economist turned politician.
Born into a poor family in a part of British-ruled India now in Pakistan, Singh studied by candlelight to win a place at Cambridge University before heading to Oxford, earning a Ph.D. a thesis on the role of exports and free trade in the Indian economy. .
He became a respected economist, later governor of India’s central bank and an adviser to the government, but had no apparent plans for a political career when he was suddenly tapped to become finance minister in 1991.
During this tenure until 1996, Singh was the architect of reforms that saved India’s economy from a severe balance of payments crisis, promoted deregulation and other measures that opened the island nation to the world .
Quoting Victor Hugo in his inaugural Budget speech, he said, “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come,” before adding, “India’s emergence as a great power economy of the world is one of these ideas.
Singh’s elevation to prime minister in 2004 was even more unexpected.
Sonia Gandhi asked him to take the job, which led the centre-left Congress Party to a surprise victory. Italian by birth, she feared her ancestry would be used by Hindu nationalist opponents to attack the government if she led the country.
During a period of unprecedented economic growth, Singh’s government shared the spoils of the country’s new wealth, introducing welfare schemes such as an employment program for the rural poor.
In 2008, his government also secured a historic deal that allowed for peaceful trade in nuclear energy with the United States for the first time in three decades, paving the way for strong relations between New Delhi and Washington.
But his efforts to further open the Indian economy were frequently thwarted by political disputes within his own party and the demands of coalition partners.
“History will be kinder to me”
And while he was widely respected by other world leaders, at home Singh always had to dodge the perception that Sonia Gandhi was the real power in government.
Widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose family has dominated Indian politics since independence from Britain in 1947, she remained the leader of the Congress Party and often made key decisions.
Known for his simple lifestyle and a reputation for honesty, Singh was not personally seen as corrupt. But he came under fire for failing to crack down on members of his government when a series of scandals erupted in his second term, sparking mass protests.
The final years of his tenure as prime minister saw India’s growth story, which he had helped design, falter as global economic turmoil and slow government decision-making battered the feeling of investment.
In 2012, his government became a minority after the Congress Party’s biggest ally left its coalition in protest at the entry of foreign supermarkets.
Two years later, the Bharatiya Janata Party decisively sidelined the Congress under Narendra Modi, a strongman who promised to end economic stagnation, clean up graft and bring inclusive growth at home.
But at a press conference just months before he stepped down, Singh insisted he had done the best he could.
“Honestly, I think history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media or, for that matter, the opposition parties in parliament,” he said.
Singh is survived by his wife and three daughters.
