Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur arrive in New Delhi, March 30, 2015, for the launch of the Congress Party's online and app-based membership drive.
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Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh ends on Tuesday at the age of 92, he sparked an avalanche of condolences and tributes from political leaders on both sides of the conflict and industry titans.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Singh one of India's “most distinguished leaders”. post on X. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party defeated Singh's Congress alliance in the 2014 elections and has been in power since then.
Singh was a “respected economist,” Modi added, who left a “strong mark” on India's economic policy.
Before becoming prime minister in 2004, Singh was governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1982 and finance minister in 1991.
As finance minister, he led a series of reforms that deregulated the Indian economy and opened the country to foreign investment.
Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and Singh liberalized the economy, which paved the way for its rapid development in the following decades.
“History will forever honor his pivotal role in the transformative reforms of 1991 that transformed India and opened its doors to the world.” he wrote Gautam Adani, the second richest man in India and chairman of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group.
Singh returned to politics in 2004 when the Congress-led coalition won the elections and party leader Sonia Gandhi appointed him prime minister.
Under his tenure from 2004 to 2014, India's gross domestic product initially grew rapidly, enabling Singh to use the new wealth for programs such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Actwho guaranteed work for the poor.
Singh's later years as prime minister, however, were marked by sclerotic growth, stalled reforms and allegations of corruption against some members of the government.
Singh played a key role in strengthening India's ties with Washington, visiting the USA many times as prime minister. In 2006, when US President George W. Bush visited India, Singh the transaction was negotiated that gave India access to American nuclear technology.
“Dr. Singh was one of the greatest advocates of the U.S.-India strategic partnership, and his work laid the foundation for much of what our countries have achieved together over the past two decades.” he wrote US State Department on Singh's death.
Apart from the United States, Singh also strengthened India's ties with Russia. He was a regular participant in the annual India-Russia Summit, which began in 2000 and aims to deepen cooperation between the two countries and among the BRIC countries.
Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov he said in X that “Dr. Manmohan Singh's contribution to our bilateral relations has been immeasurable.”