Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India's economic reform agenda and a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, died. He was 92.
Singh was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Thursday evening after his health deteriorated due to “sudden loss of consciousness at home”, the hospital said in a statement.
“Immediately resuscitation measures were started at home. He was taken to an emergency hospital” at 8:06 p.m., the hospital said, but “despite all efforts, he could not be brought back and was pronounced dead at 9:51 p.m..”
The statement said Singh was being treated for “age-related ailments”.
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A soft-spoken technocrat, Singh became one of the Longest serving Prime Ministers of India 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 in 2004 this role was filled by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
But his sterling image has been tarnished by allegations of corruption against his ministers.
Singh was re-elected in 2009, but his second term as prime minister was marred by financial scandals and allegations of corruption in the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to the Congress party's crushing defeat in the 2014 national elections to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
After giving up the prime ministership, Singh became reticent.
Prime Minister Modiwho succeeded Singh in 2014, called him one of India's “most outstanding leaders” who rose from humble origins and left a “strong mark on our economic policies over the years”.
“As our prime minister, he has made great efforts to improve people's lives,” Modi said in a post on social media platform X. He called Singh's speeches in Parliament as a lawmaker “insightful” and said “his wisdom and humility were always visible. “
Rahul Gandhi, from the same party as Singh and leader of the opposition in India's lower house of parliament, said Singh's “deep understanding of economics inspired the nation” and that he “ruled India with tremendous wisdom and integrity.”
“I lost a teacher and a leader. Millions of us who admired him will remember him with great pride,” Gandhi wrote on X.
The United States offered its condolences, p Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying that Singh was “one of the greatest advocates of the US-India strategic partnership”.
“We mourn Dr. Singh's passing and will always remember his dedication to bringing the United States and India closer together,” Blinken said.
Born on September 26, 1932 in a village in the Punjab province of undivided India. Singh's brilliant academic career took him to Cambridge University in the UK, where he graduated with a degree in economics in 1957. He then obtained a doctorate in economics from Nuffield. Oxford University College in 1962.
Singh taught at Panjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics before joining the Government of India in 1971 as Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Commerce. In 1982, he became the chief economic adviser to the Ministry of Finance. He also served as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
As finance minister, Singh in 1991 initiated reforms which opened the economy and moved India from a socialist model economy to a capitalist model in the face of a huge balance of payments deficit, avoiding a possible economic crisis.
His awards include the 1987 Padma Vibhushan Award, India's second highest civilian award; the Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress in 1995; and Asia Money's Finance Minister of the Year Award in 1993 and 1994.
Singh was a member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament and was the Leader of the Opposition from 1998 to 2004, before he was appointed Prime Minister. He was the first Sikh to hold the country's highest office and publicly apologized in Parliament for the 1984 Sikh massacre in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikhs bodyguards.
Under Singh, India enacted the Right to Information Act in 2005 to promote accountability and transparency on the part of government officials and officials. He was also instrumental in implementing a social security scheme that guaranteed at least 100 paid working days for rural India.
The coalition government he led for ten years brought together politicians and parties with different ideologies who were rivals in different states of the country.
In a move hailed as 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 American nuclear technology.
But the deal backfired on his government when communist allies withdrew support and criticism of the deal grew in India in 2008 when it was finalized.
Singh took a pragmatic approach to foreign policy, pursuing a peace process with a nuclear rival and neighbor Pakistan. But his efforts suffered a major setback after Pakistani militants carried out a massive gun and bomb attack in Mumbai in November 2008.
He also tried to end a border dispute with China by reaching a deal to reopen the Nathu La crossing into Tibet, which had been closed for more than 40 years.
In his 1965 book “India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth” examined India's domestically oriented trade policy.
Singh is survived by his wife Gursharan Kaur and three daughters.
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Associated Press writer Sheikh Saliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.