Manmohan Singh: Founding father of New India

In the death of two-term Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India or rather ‘New India’ has lost its founding father. Repeatedly, in various roles, from the Governor of Reserve Bank of India to the finance minister and ultimately the Prime Minister, Singh laid the foundations for an India that could claim its due place in the new world order. Unlike many other politicians, including his successor, Singh focussed on managing the bottomline, never the headlines. If he was an accidental Prime Minister as some in the media called him, then it was an accident that India would always remain grateful for.

Humble, wise, shy, soft-spoken, firm and clear-headed. These are but a few adjectives that would be apt for Manmohan Singh, India’s most well-educated and well-qualified but also the most under-rated Prime Minister whose impact on the country has not only shown its results but whose actions will continue to dominate the future course for the country for decades to come.

Singh, who passed away last night in New Delhi, was 92 and had been ailing due to age-related complications. He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

Having witnessed him at various international fora, including in Paris, Berlin or Brussels, one can not help but compare Singh with some other leaders. He maintained his soft-spoken and understated personality, politely greeting and acknowledging everyone, from the most important persons to even the support staff.

Even with his detractors, which were more than a few all through his career, Singh dealt with a feather touch. But at places where it mattered the most, especially when dealing with his counterparts from other countries and on matters that would decide the course of the country, Singh showed his true mettle and the heavyweight that he was.

Another outstanding quality that Singh possessed was letting others speak their mind. His cabinet ministers dealt with their portfolios in a quasi-independent manner, under his guidance, but taking their own initiatives, unlike many other leaders who keep their entire miniterial team and even the entire bureacracy under a thumb.

A solid foundation for future

 A graduate of Panjab University in Chandigarh, Singh went on to do his Masters in Economics from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. Back in India in 1970s, he honed his economics skills in various roles at the Finance Ministry in the Indian government and was soon spotted for his brilliance and his advice was frequently sought by various Prime Ministers that he served under.

In 1976, he was promoted to the position of Director of Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank and then the Governor, a position that he held from 1982 to 1985. Six years later, in 1991, he was once again called upon, by yet another Prime Minister, only this time not as an economic advisor but as Finance Minister.

After mid-term 1991 elections, the Indian National Congress had cobbled together a minority government, led by Narasimha Rao. The country had been through almost three years of severe political instability and had seen a former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated during the electoral campaign.

The country’s economy was in dire straits, with foreign exchange reserves barely enough to cover a fortnight of imports, the government’s fiscal deficit at untenable 8.5 pc and the debt to GDP ratio was one of the highest for independent India. In short, the economy was on the brink of a collapse, with terrible ramifications for the 1 billion people that called it home then.

It was in this situation that Singh was picked by Rao and within weeks, he showed his mettle and more than earned the position and a degree of respect that few politicians or even Prime Ministers in India have had, let alone a finance minister.

In July 1991, presenting his first budget in that situation, Singh delivered his first key speech in the Parliament and the one which wrote the story for the creation of New India, a story that continues even now, almost four decades later.

Presenting the budget, Singh quoted French author Victor Hugo and said, “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. The emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea,’’ said Singh.

Looking at the situation where Indian economy was then, these were brave words, but Singh was never prone to bravado. He had clearly outlined the course of action that the country had to take, not just that year or even during the five-year term that the then government had, instead, he knew what he was doing was going to be critical for India many decades if not for centuries to come.

Thus, with that vision which could only come with knowledge and a thorough understanding of the situation and the impact of his policies that Singh initiated the economic reforms, doing away with ‘licence and permit raj’, sharply cutting import duties on a whole host of goods and balanced the government’s books.

All these measures were tough decisions and ones which had been staunchly opposed by almost every industrial house in India as they feared being swamped by international competition and of course many of his own party colleagues were opposed to these reforms. But Singh had the confidence of Rao and propelled the reforms, and India, ahead.

He also knew that the reforms initiated by him would take time to make their rightful impact on the country and hence asked Rao for at least three years to guage the outcomes. Finally, when Singh and Rao handed the mantle to yet another coalition government in 1996, India had left the weakness far behind and was enroute on the course set by Singh.

Just like he was picked out of the blue to be the Finance Minister, eight years later, Singh was again handpicked by Sonia Gandhi, the then leader of Indian National Congress party, who nominated him as the Prime Minister.

When he took over as the Prime Minister, the Indian electorate had rejected the idea of ‘India shining’, which had been the slogan by then then ruling party the Bharatiya Janata Party, as rising inequality had created immense oceans of poverty, amidst the few islands of prosperity that the then government had harped upon.

Over the course of leading the government for 10 years, Singh got back to his work in terms of building on the foundation for a strong and modern India, with scores of innovative schemes and laws that not only tried to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, but also opened the doors the Indian Information Technology industry to take its due place in the world and its evolution as one of the largest exports from India.

His government passed a variety of laws to cater to the poor, notably the National Food Security Act, the Right to Education, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as well as a public health insurance cover for the weakest sections of the society, notably the migrant workers.

Bringing in an unprecedented transparency into governance, Singh also oversaw the passage of the Right to Information Act, which one of the few pieces of legislation that arms the ordinary Indian to ask toughest questions to any public authority and thus subjecting the government and all its departments to intense public scrutiny.

The decade-long rule also saw India crystallise its relationship with the United States in the form of the historic India-US Civil Nuclear Deal, one which almost cost Singh his job as many within his own party and its allies turned against him, fearing American subjugation of India. But Singh firmly stood his ground and won a vote of confidence in the Parliament over the deal which was the beginning of the strategic partnership between the world’s largest democracies.

Singh also put India on track for mobile and data revolution and again laid the foundation for digital India with the introduction of Aadhar card, or the unique ID, which in turn led to the creation of India Stack and UPI, the payments interface. Almost every large scheme being run by the government today is an idea that was birthed and initiated during Singh’s regime, be it public health insurance, direct benefit transfer or the Goods and Services Tax, which was opposed tooth and nail by the opposition BJP for several years, only for the latter to imitate it soon after its own government came to power in 2014. The BJP and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi have subsequently adopted and rebranded many of the initiatives launched by Singh.

Though towards the end of its second term, Singh’s government was embroiled in many alleged corruption scandals, all of them have long fallen aside, as they were nothing more than wild allegations by a desperate opposition party and lapped up a pliant media. Tom-tomming the so-called scams, from telecom to coal, media and the opposition ensured that the Congress Party lost the 2014 elections, but every single allegation of corruption has been dismissed by the courts as little more than hot air.

Even when handing over power, Singh remained certain of his legacy and that the alleged scams could never tarnish his life, which indeed, had been an ‘open book’. He also said very clearly, and again in a visionary, manner that history would be kinder to him than the media and the opposition parties had been. It did not take long for India to realise what the nation had lost when Singh was replaced as Prime Minister and with the alleged corruption cases collapsing in the courts like a deck of cards, Singh’s image remained spotless to the very end.

Not long after he demitted office, he was called an accidental Prime Minister by his own media advisor. If indeed it was the case, then that is one accident which India would remain forever grateful for.