Manmohan Singh’s passing draws tributes from political, industry leaders

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passing on Tuesday at the age of 92 triggered an outpouring of messages of condolence and tributes from political leaders on both sides of the aisle and titans of industry.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Singh one of India’s “most distinguished leaders” in a place on X. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party defeated Singh’s Congress alliance in the 2014 elections and has been in power ever since.

Singh was a “respected economist”, Modi added, who left “a strong imprint” on India’s economic policy.

Before becoming prime minister in 2004, Singh served as governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1982 and as finance minister in 1991.

As finance minister, he led a series of reforms that deregulated India’s economy and opened the country to foreign investment.

Faced with an acute balance of payments crisis, then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao and Singh liberalized the economy which paved the way for its rapid expansion in the following decades.

“History will forever honor his pivotal role in the transformative reforms of 1991 that reshaped India and opened its doors to the world.” he wrote Gautam Adani, the second richest person in India and chairman of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group.

Singh returned to politics in 2004 when a Congress-led coalition swept the elections, and party leader Sonia Gandhi appointed him prime minister.

Under his tenure between 2004 and 2014, India’s gross domestic product initially expanded rapidly, allowing Singh to deploy the new wealth to programs such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Actwhich guarantees employment for the poor.

The last years of Singh’s time as prime minister were, however, marked by a sclerotic growth, a stalling of reforms and allegations of corruption against certain members of the Government.

Singh played a crucial role in strengthening India’s ties with Washington, visit the United States several times as prime minister. In 2006, when US President George W. Bush visited India, Singh he managed to make a deal which gave India access to US nuclear technology.

“Dr. Singh was one of the greatest champions of the US-India strategic partnership, and his work laid the foundation for much of what our countries have accomplished together over the past two decades.” he wrote the US State Department on Singh’s death.

Besides the US, Singh also strengthened India’s ties with Russia. He was a regular attendee at the Annual India-Russia Summit, which began in 2000, and aimed to deepen cooperation between the two countries and between the BRIC nations.

Ambassador of Russia to India Denis Alipov he said on X that “Dr Manmohan Singh’s contribution to our bilateral ties was immeasurable”.