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Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister widely regarded as the architect of the country’s economic reform program, was cremated Saturday after a state funeral as politicians and the public mourned his death.
The veteran leader, who was also recognized for a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, died late Thursday at the age of 92.
Singh’s body was taken to his Congress party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday morning, where party leaders and activists paid tributes to him and “Manmohan Singh lives forever.”
Abhishek Bishnoi, a party leader, said Singh’s death was a great loss to the country. “He used to not speak much, but his talent and his actions spoke louder than his words,” he said.
Later, Singh’s body was transported to a crematorium for his last rites as soldiers beat drums.
Government officials, politicians and family members paid their last respects to Singh, whose coffin was decorated with flowers and wrapped in the Indian flag. Security personnel honored him with a ceremonial gun salute.
Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called Singh one of the country’s most distinguished leaders, and several cabinet ministers attended the funeral.
Singh’s body was then transferred to a pyre and cremated as religious hymns played.
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Authorities declared a seven-day mourning period and canceled all cultural and entertainment events during that time. Government buildings across India fly the national flag at half-mast.
A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh was prime minister for 10 years and leader of the Congress party in the upper house of parliament, earning a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. He was elected Prime Minister in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of the assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Singh was re-elected in 2009, but his second term was clouded by financial scandals and allegations of corruption over the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to the crushing defeat of the Congress party in the 2014 national elections by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi.
Singh adopted a low profile after giving up the post of Prime Minister.
As finance minister, Singh instituted reforms in 1991 that moved India away from a socialist-pattern economy and toward a capitalist model in the face of a huge balance-of-payments deficit, which threatened a potential economic crisis.
Singh was the first Sikh to hold the country’s top post and made a public apology in Parliament for the 1984 Sikh Massacre in which about 3,000 Sikhs were killed after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
In a move considered one of his greatest achievements apart from economic reforms, Singh ended India’s nuclear isolation by signing an agreement with the US that gave India access to US nuclear technology.
But the deal hurt his coalition government, with communist allies withdrawing their support and criticism of the deal growing inside India in 2008 when it was finalised.
US President Joe Biden, in a condolence statement, called Singh a true statesman and a dedicated public servant who “charted groundbreaking progress that will continue to strengthen our nations – and the world – for generations to come.”
“The unprecedented level of cooperation between the United States and India today would not have been possible without the strategic vision and political courage of the Prime Minister,” Biden said.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
