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While late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe considered Dr. Manmohan Singh his “mentor”, former US President Barack Obama viewed him as a “historical figure”.
In this file photo dated November 8, 2010, 44th US President Barack Obama and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greet each other after addressing a joint press conference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. (Image: PTI)
Former Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh breathed his last on Thursday, 26 December. While India mourned his death, the world bid goodbye to an “intelligent, thoughtful” leader.
Dr. Manmohan Singh is remembered as the architect of India’s economic reforms. India faced its worst economic crisis and was on the verge of sovereign default. The Gulf War of 1990–91 led to a sharp rise in oil prices and a decline in remittances from Indian workers working abroad, reducing India’s foreign exchange reserves to less than $6 billion. India’s foreign exchange reserves had shrunk to cover only three weeks of imports.
Earlier, the caretaker government of Chandra Shekhar had taken the very wise advice of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to pledge the gold, following which a large-scale clandestine operation was carried out under which about 47 tonnes of gold was seized during four months of July. Was sent abroad in installments. Which helped the government to raise about 400 million dollars. The reforms brought by Dr. Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister during the Prime Ministership of PV Narasimha Rao liberalized the Indian economy and changed the Indian economy forever. Before that year was out, India had repaid the loans against which the gold was pledged, and Dr. Manmohan Singh became a leader seen and admired around the world.
India-US nuclear deal which had his personal touch
This was the biggest success of Dr. Manmohan Singh. The 2008 agreement ended India’s nuclear isolation and opened access to nuclear technology. This deal also allowed India to strengthen its relationship with the US and the rest is history. The nuclear deal is considered to be the one that opened the doors to stronger India-US relations.
India’s nuclear program has been highly controversial since 1974. India was barred from acquiring civilian nuclear technology and other critical technologies from foreign countries. It also prevented India from building strong strategic ties with major Western powers.
While the India-US nuclear deal opened doors for India globally, it was deeply controversial domestically. The Left allies of the Congress, especially the CPI(M), strongly opposed the deal. But Dr. Manmohan Singh insisted on it till the end despite scams like ‘cash for votes’. His courage in putting the entire government on hold to secure a deal will be remembered for generations to come.
As the US mourned Dr Singh’s death on Friday, she looked back at the deal and described Dr Singh as one of the “greatest champions of the US-India strategic partnership”.
“The United States expresses our sincere condolences to the people of India on the passing of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Dr. Singh was one of the greatest proponents of the US-India strategic partnership, and his work laid the foundation for much of what our countries have achieved together over the past two decades. His leadership in advancing the US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement signaled a major investment in the potential of the US-India relationship. Domestically, Dr. Singh will be remembered for his economic reforms, which fueled India’s rapid economic growth. “We mourn Dr. Singh’s passing and will always remember his dedication to bringing the United States and India closer together,” the statement said.
How Dr. Manmohan Singh ensured that India remained a respectful neighbor
During his tenure from 2004–14, India’s neighborhood witnessed a sea change. Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives became democratic during this period. This was especially important in Nepal. After a long civil war, India played a role in ending the monarchy and bringing the rebel Maoists into the mainstream of democracy. During his tenure, India developed good relations with the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.
On Friday, Maldivian President Dr Mohammed Muizzu, recalling Dr Singh’s 2011 visit to the island nation, wrote on Twitter, “On behalf of the people of Maldives and on my own behalf, I wish to express my condolences on the passing away of former Prime Minister Dr. I join the people of India. Manmohan Singh. His historic visit to Maldives in November 2011 proved to be an important milestone in furthering our economic and social development. Dr. Singh’s commitment to progress and his leadership in strengthening the ‘Look East Policy’ played an important role in promoting development and cooperation across the South Asia region. I express my heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of India in this hour of profound loss.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s landmark 2007 visit to India, where he raised the idea of ​​the Quad for the first time, took place during the tenure of Dr. Manmohan Singh.
26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack
What Manmohan Singh is often criticized for is his government’s inaction after the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and his attitude of engaging with Pakistan. In 2008, 166 people lost their lives in the 26/11 attacks. The Indian government led by Dr. Singh had enough evidence to prove that Pakistan was involved in this. Despite this, under his leadership, India did not force us to retaliate. Instead, Dr. Singh emphasized on putting pressure on Pakistan through negotiations and diplomacy.
Controversial Sharm-el-Sheikh Agreement
In July 2009, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh. At the end of the talks, a joint statement was issued isolating the overall talks. The statement mentioned Balochistan for the first time, which is the first such mention in any India-Pakistan joint statement.
The mention of Balochistan is important because Pakistan has long been accusing India of supporting militancy there. The UPA government was criticized a lot for the mention of Balochistan in the joint statement, but Dr. Manmohan Singh remained in favor of the path of dialogue and diplomacy to deal with Pakistan.
afghanistan
Dr. Manmohan Singh was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Afghanistan in 29 years. During his 2005 visit, major announcements were made by India such as the construction of Afghanistan’s Parliament building. India had earlier provided 400 buses and was laying power transmission lines from the Uzbekistan border to Kabul and building a road to Iran’s Chahbahar port.
Right after Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces and Pakistan was exposed in front of the whole world, Dr. Manmohan Singh again visited Afghanistan and promised to give another 500 million dollars to the country in the next six years. Dr. Singh made this announcement in Kabul. This amount was in addition to the $1.5 billion already promised.
China
In 2005, an agreement on political parameters and guiding principles for the resolution of the boundary question was signed between India and China. It was seen as a landmark agreement and Article 4 of the agreement provided guidelines to deal with a face-off between Indian and Chinese troops. But during Dr. Singh’s regime, China started giving stapled visas and became aggressive on the issue of Arunachal Pradesh. India also stopped repeating its ‘One China Policy’.
The year 2013 saw the Depsang border crisis with intrusion by a large contingent of Chinese PLA in the river bed of Raki Nala. Indian forces immediately responded to the Chinese presence by setting up their camp 300 meters away. Talks continued between the two parties for three weeks and the dispute was resolved. As part of the proposal, the Indian Army agreed to refrain from building bunkers in the Chumar sector, 250 kilometers away.
Later in October 2013, then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqing after the two countries signed a Border Defense Cooperation Agreement to facilitate ways and means of implementing border defense cooperation .
What did global leaders say about Dr. Manmohan Singh?
Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe considered Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Guru or ‘Guru’. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel also sought Dr Singh’s advice on economic issues. He reportedly sought help from Dr Singh during the Eurozone crisis meeting in 2013.
Former US President Barack Obama is a fan of Dr. Singh. He called Dr. Singh “intelligent, thoughtful and scrupulously honest” during his tenure as Prime Minister of India. Obama called Dr. Singh a “historic figure.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Toronto (Canada) in 2010, then US President Barack Obama had this to say of Dr Singh, “I can tell you that here at the G20, when the Prime Minister speaks, people listen. Are.”
