Death of Manmohan Singh: Reformer who unleashed the economy and stood firm on the US nuclear deal

The speech of Manmohan Singh and his tenure as Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Cabinet looms large in our collective memory. The Oxford scholar helped liberalize the Indian economy and usher in unprecedented economic growth. What is rarely talked about is how Singh, as prime minister, shaped India’s foreign policy and steered talks on a civilian nuclear deal with the US in the face of fierce opposition from political parties.

The gentle and quiet politician, who is often criticized as ‘Maunmohan’ for being a man of few words, was in fact a man of action. India lost one of its economists and prime minister on Thursday. Singh was 93.

“No power in the world can stop an idea whose time has come,” the then finance minister Manmohan Singh concluded his Budget speech in 1991. The world happens to be one such idea.

When Singh took over as finance minister in 1991, India was grappling with a severe balance of payments crisis. Foreign exchange reserves were dangerously low, barely enough to cover two weeks of imports.

The country needed bold reforms and Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh were the ones tasked with implementing them.

They led a series of groundbreaking economic reforms, moving from a state-controlled, protectionist model to a more market-oriented, liberalized framework.

Singh abolished the infamous License Raj, which throttled industry and opened the economy to foreign direct investment (FDI).

These helped stabilize the economy and unlock India’s economic potential. The GDP growth rate, which had been around 3-4% annually, averaged 7.7% during Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister.

Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister in 2001.

The calm exterior hid a steely interior that prioritized nationhood over partisan politics.

Singh, who led a UPA coalition government and faced strong opposition from political parties, decided to move forward with the civil nuclear deal between India and the United States.

The agreement would allow India to cooperate with the US on a civilian nuclear program.

With the help of then APJ President Abdul Kalam, Singh managed to convince some of the parties that had given up their opposition to the nuclear deal. However, the left-wing parties continued to vehemently reject the agreement and withdrew their support from the government. The Samajwadi Party had earlier supported the Left Front in its resistance but changed its stance.

Singh’s government was put to the test of confidence and survived by 275-256 votes.

Singh and then US President George W. Bush made a joint announcement on July 18, 2005 on the framework of the agreement, which officially came into force in October 2008.

This was a major victory for India, which was treated as a nuclear pariah by the US. Not only did the agreement confirm India’s role as a responsible nuclear power, it also enabled the US to support India with technology for civilian programs.

The tough stance Singh took on the nuclear deal, which also helped bring India and the US closer together, and the way he led the country through the economic recession of 2008, was reflected in the 2009 elections rewarded especially by the middle class.

The Manmohan Singh-led Congress won 206 seats in the Lok Sabha election, increasing its 2004 tally by 61 seats.

However, the UPA-II years were affected by political paralysis. While the government battled the downsides of fraud, bureaucrats were too afraid to delete files.

Manmohan Singh, who oversaw India’s economic recovery, endured years of stagnation in government policy. The government stopped communications and the glory of earlier Manmohan days was lost in a thick blanket of moss.

However, Singh provided relief for farmers and introduced the world’s largest job security scheme, MNREGS.

It was Manmohan Singh who consolidated the edifice of the Indian economy and helped successive governments make India ever stronger. It was also India’s first turbaned prime minister who stood firm on the nuclear deal with the US and gave India a place on the nuclear issue.