After 33 years, former prime minister Manmohan Singh leaves the Rajya Sabha
On Wednesday, the 33-year-long political career of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was the first PM from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve two full terms of office, will come to an end.
Leading a government that introduced numerous rights-based laws, changed the social welfare system, and introduced Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer, Singh is credited with being the driving force behind the 2008 Indo-US nuclear agreement and the architect of India’s economic liberalization.
Singh, who was ninety-one, succeeded Indira Gandhi (during her first term) as the third Prime Minister from the Rajya Sabha.
Personally, people regarded India’s sole Sikh prime minister as the embodiment of elegance and decorum. Singh had become accustomed to being addressed as “sir” when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) administration took office; thus, defense minister Pranab Mukherjee had to make him break the practice when Singh became the RBI governor and Mukherjee was the Union finance minister.
Singh entered the Upper House in October 1991, four months after he became the Union finance minister in June 1991. He represented Assam for five terms in the Upper House and shifted to Rajasthan in 2019.
Singh, who was fluent in both Urdu and English, was one of the greatest parliamentary speakers in recent memory. “An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any force on earth. As Singh introduced his first budget in 1991, he observed, “I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea.”
Speaking candidly about the 1984 Anti-Sikh massacre in the Upper House, he said, “I bow my head in shame.”
And Singh, a devoted follower of poet Iqbal, stunned everyone by responding, “Maana ki teri deed ke kabil nahi hoon main, tu mera shauq dekh mera intizaar dekh (Agreed, I am not worthy of your sight, behold my zeal and see how I wait).” when the late Sushma Swaraj used an Urdu shayari to confront the PM.
“You have a great influence on the times in which we live. You and our previous Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao, laid the groundwork for the economic prosperity and stability we enjoy today. Due to political prejudices, the current group of leaders who have benefited from your work are hesitant to give you credit,” remarked Mallikarjun Kharge, the head of Congress. In a radiant ode
Singh’s education and law minister, Kapil Sibal, gave a heartfelt tribute. “He never called me to ask me to do something, ever, in my ten years as PM. He informed me that there was resistance to my attempts to advance the educational reforms. It felt like a warning, yet he never told me not to go. He would alert me to opposition within the party (on RTI), but I got my way with the Akash tablet and RTI. He never tried to push his way or intervene.
Singh oversaw an unstable coalition for ten years. In 2008, the Left parties stopped endorsing the nuclear agreement. However, in 2009, Singh informed CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, “I am missing your counsel,” when Yechury and a group visited him.
Source : By Latestly via Dailyhunt