'Hope when history is written, it'll be kinder to me'

THE SCHOLAR, THE ECONOMIST AND THE UNLIKELY STATESMAN

- Ketan Narottam Tanna

With the passing of Dr. Manmohan Singh at 92, India bids farewell to a leader whose career was as improbable as it was transformative. A man of intellect and integrity, he ascended from the dusty lanes of Gah, now in Pakistan, to become India’s 14th Prime Minister, steering the country through both economic crises and geopolitical turmoil. Singh’s legacy is one of contradictions: a technocrat who led with humility, a scholar who shaped history, and a reluctant statesman who, despite shunning the limelight, became the architect of India’s economic renaissance.

Born in 1932, Singh’s formative years in a small village in Punjab seemed distant from the political maelstrom that would later define his career. Yet, his academic pursuits — first at Punjab University, followed by Cambridge and Oxford — laid the foundation for his future in policy-making. A man of few words and even fewer public appearances, Singh’s genius lay in his steady, measured approach to governance, a stark contrast to the bombastic political theater that often surrounded him.