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A Tribute to the Gentle Giant of Contemporary Indian Politics: Dr Manmohan Singh

By Varun Hari Prasad

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh passed away on 26 December 2024, ending one of the most illustrious innings of over 6 decades in public service.

Dr Manmohan Singh had a tough childhood as he faced the troubles of partition and came to India at the age of 14. He studied with the help of scholarship and always used to stress on the importance of public funding in Education. This humble origins enabled him to enact the landmark Right to Education Act and introduce reservation for SC/ST/OBC in public educational institutions.

I will not reflect on his tenure as Finance Minister in 1991. I would like to reflect on three specific aspects of Dr Manmohan Singh, during his stint as Prime Minister:

The Myth of being 'Weak PM'

There has been this argument that Dr Manmohan Singh was a  'weak' Prime Minister. But if one carefully observes the tenure of Dr Singh as Prime Minister, one will observe that he was not 'weak' as portrayed by the BJP and certain media. Some people also try to credit the National Advisory Council for the pro-people legislation during his term. That is also not true. The NAC might have given inputs but as the final authority on policy in the Government, none of the laws like RTI, RTE, NREGA, Food Security Act, Forest Rights Act, etc could have been passed without the complete support of Dr Manmohan Singh.

Dr Manmohan Singh stood firm when it came to Foreign Policy by deepening our strategic relationship with the USA, Europe, Russia, Japan and Africa. Dr Singh had special focus for South Asia and that is reflected in the tributes that have come from Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Impartial PM

As Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh did not differentiate between any States based on the party governing the State. That is reflected even in Prime Minister Modi's tribute to Dr Singh. The JDU, which is an NDA ally, has also shared the way in which Dr Manmohan focused on the development of Bihar despite Bihar having a different party government.

In the ten years of Dr Manmohan Singh's tenure, we had never witnessed the disturbances that we now see between the Centre and State Governments, sometimes even on small issues. This itself shows how Dr Manmohan Singh valued Federalism.

The Karnataka connect

Dr Manmohan Singh contributed significantly to the growth of Karnataka. He provided debt relief to farmers by waiving off the entire overdue interest rescheduling of overdue loans as on 30 June 2006. He had also waived off crop loans amounting to 72,000 crores. These two schemes have also greatly benefited the farmers of Karnataka.

Dr Manmohan Singh provided a relief of 2,689.64 crore for providing relief small farmers in Belagavi, Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Kodagu and Hassan under the Prime Minister's Rehabilitation Package. The Bengaluru International Airport (which is now named as Kempegowda International Airport) was inaugurated by Dr Singh in 2008. It was his Government that approved Metro Rail for Bengaluru and he flagged off Bengaluru's first Metro train service from Baiyappanahalli to MG Road in 2011. In Dr Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the elevated highway between Bengaluru and Electronic City in 2006. It was in tenure that the elevated road in Peenya was also constructed. these two elevated highways greatly contributed towards reducing traffic congestion in the city at those points.

For Kalyana Karnataka region, Article 371-J was inserted in the Constitution by Dr Manmohan Singh's Government to accelerate the development of Kalyana Karnataka region. His Government also replicated the Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) set up in Dakshina Kannada district and launched the Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) in each district in 2008-09.

A rare politician of Grace and Humility

In today's politics, it is very rare to find a politician with Dr Manmohan Singh's qualities. He was extremely dignified and very humble. He would treat a big leader and an ordinary person with the same respect. Dr Manmohan Singh allowed criticism and was humble enough to learn from it.

I would like to recall, I had written a letter via e-mail to him on the day of his retirement from Rajya Sabha on 2 April 2024. By that time he was already not at the best of his health. But Dr Manmohan Singh made it a point to send a reply to that letter via e-main on 17 April 2024. The reply reads as follows: 
"Dear Shri Varun Hari Prasad,
 
                      Many thanks for your email message of April 2, 2024 commending on my retirement from public life. I greatly value your kind sentiments. I take this opportunity to send you my Best Wishes.

With kind regards,
Dr Manmohan Singh
Former Prime Minister" 

The real tribute for Dr Manmohan Singh will be greater investment in public education infrastructure. If we ensure that quality education, including higher education, is affordable and accessible even to those at at the bottom of the economic pyramid, it will enable many more people like Dr Manmohan Singh to emerge and serve the country. That will be a true and befitting tribute we can offer Dr Manmohan Singh.

I will end with what Dr Singh had said in his last address to the Nation as Prime Minister: "As I leave office, my abiding memory will be the love and kindness that I have always received from you. I owe everything to this country, this great land of ours where I, an underprivileged child of Partition, was empowered enough to rise and occupy high office. It is both a debt that I will never be able to repay and a decoration that I will always wear with pride."

Dr Singh, India will forever cherish your distinguished life and your contribution for the growth and welfare of this country.

Comments

  1. Jude David30 December 2024 at 20:05

    Nicely writen Varun yes in today's politics it's rare or impossible to find someone like Dr Manmohan Singh ji

    ReplyDelete

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