A Reformer Who Punched Above His Political Weight

● His vision of economic trajectory has been clear, and his actions purposeful and unrelenting

- FE BUREAU

ANMOHAN SINGH, who passed away on Thursday, didn't have the common attributes of a successful politician, but not only that he became one, but turned out making a seminal contribution to the country's economic regulatory structure. Even among heavyweight politicians, who enjoyed large mass support and loyalties, few could bring in radical policy overhauls as Singh did.

The sweeping policy changes that he initiated as the finance minister in the first half of the 1990s in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government involved high political stakes, but he still managed to carry them out, thanks to solid support from Rao.

Singh's rise can be attributed to a great extent to hard work and merit, but he was also the right man in the right place with unusual frequency. He assumed a whole array of influential offices in the country, which economists of comparable or even greater standing and vocation could not even remotely rival. Given his reticent nature, this would have required a great element of providence, and quirk of circumstances.