Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India, dies aged 92

NEW DELHI (AP) – Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program and a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, has died. He was 92.

Singh was admitted to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences late Thursday after his health deteriorated due to a “sudden loss of consciousness at home,” the hospital said in a statement.

“Resuscitation measures were started immediately at home. He was taken to the medical emergency” at 8:06 p.m., the hospital said, but “despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 8 p.m. 21.51.”

Singh was being treated for “age-related medical conditions,” the statement said.

A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh became one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers for 10 years and leader of the Congress Party in the Upper House of Parliament, gaining a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. He was chosen to fill the role in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

But his sterling image was tarnished by allegations of corruption against his ministers.

Singh was re-elected in 2009, but his second term as prime minister was overshadowed by financial scandals and corruption allegations over the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to the Congress party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 national elections by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party under by Narendra Modi.

Singh took a low profile after giving up the post of Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi, who succeeded Singh in 2014, called him one of India’s “most distinguished leaders” who rose from humble origins and left “a strong imprint on our economic policies over the years.”

“As our prime minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives,” Modi said in a post on social platform X. He called Singh’s interventions in Parliament as a lawmaker “insightful” and said, “His wisdom and humility were always visible. “

Rahul Gandhi, from the same party as Singh and the leader of the opposition in India’s lower house of parliament, said Singh’s “deep understanding of economics inspired the nation” and that he “led India with tremendous wisdom and integrity.”

“I have lost a mentor and guide. Millions of us who admired him will remember him with the greatest pride,” Gandhi wrote on X.

Born on 26 September 1932 in a village in the Punjab province of undivided India, Singh’s brilliant academic career led him to Cambridge University in the UK, where he earned a degree in economics in 1957. He then earned his doctorate in economics from Nuffield College at Oxford University in 1962.

Singh taught at Panjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics before joining the Indian government in 1971 as Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Commerce. In 1982, he became 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 in 1991, Singh initiated reforms that opened up the economy and moved India away from a socialist patterned economy and towards a capitalist model in the face of a huge current account deficit, averting a potential economic crisis.

His honors include the Padma Vibhushan Award in 1987, India’s second highest civilian honor; Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress in 1995; and the Asia Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year in 1993 and 1994.

Singh was a member of India’s Upper House of Parliament and was the Leader of the Opposition from 1998 to 2004 before being appointed Prime Minister. He was the first Sikh to hold the country’s highest office and made a public apology in Parliament for the 1984 Sikh massacre in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh bodyguards.

Under Singh, India passed a Right to Information Act in 2005 to promote accountability and transparency from government officials and bureaucrats. He was also instrumental in implementing a welfare scheme that guaranteed at least 100 paid working days for Indian peasants.

The coalition government he led for a decade brought together politicians and parties with different ideologies who were rivals in the country’s various states.

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 United States that gave India access to American nuclear technology.

But the deal negatively affected his government, with communist allies withdrawing support and criticism of the deal growing in India in 2008 when it was finalized.

Singh adopted a pragmatic foreign policy approach and pursued a peace process with 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 the border dispute with China and brokered an agreement to reopen the Nathu La pass to Tibet, which had been closed for more than 40 years.

His 1965 book, “India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth,” dealt with India’s inward-looking trade policy.

Singh is survived by his wife Gursharan Kaur and three daughters.

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Associated Press Writer Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.