The Life and Legacy of India’s Beloved Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh
- Architect of Economic Liberalization: Manmohan Singh's reforms in 1991 and as Prime Minister transformed India into a global economic powerhouse.
- Historic Leadership: He became India’s first Sikh Prime Minister, serving two terms from 2004 to 2014, and is remembered for his humble and resilient leadership.
- Enduring Legacy: Despite controversies, his contributions to India’s economy, healthcare, and international relations continue to be recognized.
There is no doubt in this universally admitted truth that “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 played in their lives and the legacies they left behind for posterity to learn from and benefit. These persons are called “legends” or “heroes.” One such extraordinary individual was Sardar Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India, who breathed his last in New Delhi on Thursday, 26th December 2024, at the age of 92 due to age-related medical conditions. Mr. Singh’s passing is undoubtedly a monumental loss for India.
Manmohan Singh-ji was the architect of India’s economic liberalization. In 2004, he made 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 26th 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 during the partition in 1947. His grandfather, Sant Singh, was mercilessly butchered in the sectarian violence that erupted during the Partition, an event that traumatized Singh throughout his life. His mother passed away, leaving him at the mercy of his grandmother, Jamna Devi, when he was very young. Manmohan was raised by his paternal grandmother, to whom he was very close. Despite enduring numerous hardships and sufferings, his graceful personality never lost its touch of humbleness, and he always managed to stay composed and patient in every ordeal, no matter how difficult.
After receiving his initial education from the local government school, Singh secured admission at Hindu College, Amritsar. He also attended Panjab University, where he studied economics and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1952, standing first throughout his academic career. He completed his Economics Tripos at the 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” highlighted his vision and expertise in development economics, laying the foundation for his future as an economist.
Singh then returned to India and began teaching as a senior lecturer in economics at Panjab University from 1957 to 1959. He also served as an economics reader at 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.
Manmohan Singh’s political career began in June 1991 when India’s then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao made Singh his finance minister, giving him full rein. At the time, India was grappling with an unprecedented economic crisis, so severe that the government had to mortgage its gold reserves to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But Mr. Singh, as finance minister, introduced sound economic reforms that not only steered India out of that crisis but also transformed India into a global economic powerhouse. India’s long-time cabinet member, P. Chidambaram, praised Dr. Singh’s role in pushing India towards a market economy, comparing his contributions to those 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 the Lok Sabha elections from South Delhi but failed to secure the seat. However, in 2004, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi surprised everyone by choosing Dr. Manmohan Singh to be her prime minister, making him the 13th prime minister of India. Dr. Manmohan Singh, who assumed office on 22 May 2004, remained in power for a prolonged period of ten years, being re-elected as premier on 16 May 2009 and serving until 26 May 2014.
Once in office, Dr. Singh worked tirelessly for India’s progress and, within years, turned India from a laggard into one of the greatest economies in the world. He, along with his finance minister, P. Chidambaram, presided over a period during which India’s economy grew at an 8–9 percent rate. In 2007, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9 percent and became the second-fastest-growing major economy in the world.
In 2008, Manmohan Singh risked everything to secure a landmark nuclear deal with the U.S., which ended a 30-year American ban on nuclear trade with India and reshaped India’s global standing. In 2009, he achieved a significant milestone when Brazil, India, China, Russia, and South Africa formed the group “BRICS.” His government also worked to provide free healthcare to the common people, launching The National Rural Health Mission, which mobilized half a million community health workers. This initiative was highly praised by American economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Manmohan Singh served as India’s Prime Minister for 10 years, holding two consecutive terms. In his first term, he basked in the optimism of his promised reforms. However, in his second term, he came under a cloud of financial scandals, including the 2G spectrum case, the Commonwealth Games scandal, and coal block allocations. Even after these scandals, Dr. Singh’s personal reputation remained untarnished, though the wrongdoings of his fallible colleagues brought him under intense criticism.
Regarding his personal life, unlike his political life, it was peaceful. He married 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 reflected in 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 demonstrated that he could change India without allowing India to change him by staying true to himself when others did not. Before concluding this piece, I would like to quote a few words from Manmohan Singh’s last press conference that touched my heart. 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 faltered in every possible way. Though Mr. Singh is no longer with us in this world, he will never be forgotten and will always be missed by his admirers. May the departed soul rest in eternal peace. Amen!
The author is a writer based in Lahore.
