Manmohan Singh, The Technocrat Who Transformed India’s Economy

Dr Manmohan Singh — former Prime Minister of India, noted economist, technocrat and the architect of India’s liberalised economy that achieved high growth from its worst economic crisis, a man admired and respected by friends and rivals alike — is no more. Dr Singh, who had been ailing for a while, breathed his last in Delhi this evening. He was 92. 

The man seen as a reluctant, gentleman politician, was the automatic choice for Sonia Gandhi when, after an unexpected UPA victory, she stepped away from the post that was her right by rule and tradition. 

Dr Singh’s background as Reserve Bank Governor, former finance minister and Secretary General of the South-South Commission and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission and his reputation as “Mr Clean” had made the decision obvious. 

In a first, India was treated to live television proceedings that showed a queue of Congress leaders asking Mrs Gandhi to rethink her decision as she stood shoulder to shoulder to Manmohan Singh. 

While the economy has never looked back after the liberalisation of 1991 that dredged it out of the a phenomenal low of the balance of payments crisis, delivering an average growth rate of around 8.5 per cent, Manmohan Singh took the other huge step, in foreign policy, in 2009. 

The India-US nuclear deal was forged in the fire of a huge political row in the country — a pullout of support by the left Front and a challenge to Dr Singh’s government to prove majority.

The deal he stood by ended the era of sanctions placed on India after the Pokhran 2 nuclear tests of 1998 with partial sanctions by IAEA that covered only the civil nuclear facilities. It also steered the country away from the Nehruvian policy of non-alignment, placed it front and centre of the international community and secured it a place at the nuclear club high table.  

Dr Singh’s meteoric rise from a post-partition humble background consolidated the Indian dream that a plebian background is no impediment to acquiring high office.

Born in Gah in undivided Punjab (now in Pakistan) on September 26, 1932, Dr Singh was a brilliant student who got a first class degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a DPhil from Oxford in the early 1960s.

He was handpicked as finance minister by former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao — a lawyer and polyglot — after holding every top job in economy: Chief Economic Advisor, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission,  Reserve Bank of India Governor and Union Finance Secretary.

Ironically, while Dr Singh’s personal honesty was never questioned, his image took a beating as a series of corruption allegations were levelled against his government. The 2G, CWG and Coal block allocations and the resultant policy paralysis of the government provided an opening to the Opposition BJP and Narendra Modi to attack it. 

The other huge criticism against his government was sparked by a perception of a dual power centre in the Congress where the power vested with then party chief Sonia Gandhi and not the Prime Minister.

Books by his former media adviser Sanjaya Baru and some other bureaucrats helped to highlight the charge and offered ammunition to critics who accused him of being the weakest Prime Minister India ever had. Many even disparagingly dubbed him as the “Accidental Prime Minister”.

Dr Singh, however, maintained that history would be kinder to him.

In January 2014, addressing his last press conference as Prime Minister, he said, “I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament”.