Respected, Regarded, Remembered These were the words used by India Today in its tribute to former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
As a citizen who lived through the years of Dr. Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister of India from 2004-2014, one cannot help but look back to his contributions to take our country to where it is today.
When news broke of Dr. Singh being rushed to AIIMS, Delhi on the night of 26th December 2024, it honestly did not look good. Even before the medical bulletin of Dr. Singh’s demise was released by AIIMS, tributes to Dr. Singh already started pouring in on X (Formerly Twitter).
Dr. Manmohan Singh had a history of health-related ailments but that never stopped him from working and pushing himself to always give his best for the betterment of his beloved country. Even during his tenure as Prime Minister, doctors had advised him to reduce his work load but he refused to do so knowing very well what his responsibility to the nation truly was.
It is a dream for any student to go to the best college to get the best education. Dr. Manmohan Singh did his BA, MA from Panjab University, BA from St. John’s College, Cambridge and his DPhil from Nuffield College, Oxford. Yes, one determined young man who was a victim of partition managed do study all of this and always top his class.
In 1962, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru offered a position to Dr. Singh in his cabinet but he refused on the grounds that he preferred being an academician. It was this early on that his talent was spotted.
In “The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh” a book authored by Sanjaya Baru, media advisor and chief spokesperson (PMO) from May 2004 – August 2008, he termed Dr. Manmohan Singh to be an “accidental” prime minister. The word accidental need not always be used in a negative context.
P.V. Narasimha Rao’s Finance Minister
In June 1991, Dr. Manmohan Singh was not the first choice of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to be his finance minister. His first choice was Dr. Singh’s predecessor as the RBI Governor, Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel. I.G. Patel refused the job which made Narasimha Rao request Dr. Singh to take up the job as his finance minister. If it wasn’t for Dr. Singh opening the doors of our economy and taking the bold steps that he did as finance minister,
source :Siasat..