NEW DELHI: Described as a “reluctant king” in his first stint as prime minister, the quietly spoken Manmohan Singh was arguably one of India’s most successful leaders.

The first Sikh in office, Singh, 92, was being trea­ted for age-related medical conditions and died after he was brought to hospital after a sudden loss of consciousness on Thursday.

He is credited with steering India to unprecedented economic growth and lifting hundreds of millions out of dire poverty. He went on to serve a rare second term.

Prime Minister Naren­dra Modi said: “India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders, Dr Manmohan Singh Ji.” He applauded the economist-turned-politician’s body of work.

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 doctorate with a thesis on the role of exports and free trade in India’s economy. He became a respected economist, then India’s central bank governor and a government advisor but had no apparent plans for a political career when he was suddenly tapped to become finance minister in 1991.

During that tenure to 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 an insular country to the world.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024