India’s ‘reluctant’ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dies at 92

Described as a “reluctant king” during his first term as prime minister, Manmohan Singh was perhaps one of India’s most successful leaders.

Mr Singh, 92, the first Sikh to become president, had been receiving treatment for age-related conditions, but died on Thursday after suddenly losing consciousness and being taken to hospital.

He is credited with leading India to unprecedented economic growth and lifting hundreds of millions of people out of dire poverty. He went on to serve an unusual second term.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India mourns the loss of one of its most eminent leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji.”

He praised the economist-turned-politician’s body of work.

Born into a poor family in the part of British-ruled India that is now Pakistan, Mr. Singh studied by candlelight and entered Cambridge University, then Oxford, where he studied exports and free trade in the Indian economy. He received his Ph.D. with a thesis on the role of .

He became a respected economist and later served as the governor of India’s central bank and as a government advisor, but when he was suddenly appointed finance minister in 1991, he had no clear plans for a career in politics.

During his tenure, which ended in 1996, Mr. Singh was the architect of reforms that rescued India’s economy from a severe balance of payments crisis and promoted deregulation and other measures that opened the island nation to the world.

Quoting Victor Hugo’s famous line from his first budget speech, he said, “No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come,” before adding: . ”

Mr. Singh’s appointment as prime minister in 2004 was even more unexpected.

He was asked to take up the job by Sonia Gandhi, who led her centre-left Congress party to a surprise victory. Born in Italy, she feared that Hindu nationalist opponents would use her ancestry to attack the government if she were to lead the country.

Riding on a period of unprecedented economic growth, the Singh government shared the spoils of the country’s newfound wealth and introduced welfare schemes, including employment programs for the rural poor.

In 2008, his government also signed a landmark agreement allowing peaceful trade in nuclear energy with the United States for the first time in 30 years, paving the way for strong ties between New Delhi and Washington.

However, his efforts to further open India’s economy were often frustrated by political conflicts within his party and the demands of his coalition partners.

Although Singh was widely respected by other world leaders, at home he always had to fend off the perception that Sonia Gandhi was at the helm of the government.

The widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose family has dominated Indian politics since independence from Britain in 1947, she remains the leader of the Congress party, often taking major decisions.

Singh, known for his simple lifestyle and honesty, was not personally considered a corrupt person. But during his second term, a series of scandals erupted that sparked mass protests, and he came under attack for failing to crack down on government officials.

In his final years as prime minister, he saw India’s growth story he helped envision wobble as investment sentiment took a hit from global economic turmoil and slow government decision-making.

In 2012, the National Congress Party’s biggest ally left the coalition in protest against the entry of foreign supermarkets, leaving the government in the minority.

Two years later, Congress was decisively ousted by the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, a strongman who promised to end economic stagnation, root out corruption and bring inclusive growth to the hinterland.

But at a press conference a few months before leaving office, Singh insisted he had done all he could.

“I honestly believe that history has been kinder to me than the modern media and, for that matter, the opposition in Congress,” he said.

Singh is survived by his wife and three daughters.