Sardar of contemporary India- Dr Manmohan Singh ( 1932-2024)

Sardar of contemporary India, Dr Manmohan Singh, died on 26^th December 2024; he was born in to Panjabi Family on 26 September 1932 in the Gah, West Punjab (now in Pakistan). He always cherished and admired his roots and his friends cross the border. The family belongs to the Panjabi shik, they were in the business of the dry fruits.

Manmohan Singh began his education at a local gurdwara, where he was first introduced to Urdu and Punjabi languages. On April 17, 1937, he joined the Government Primary School in his village, continuing his Urdu-medium studies until Class 4, at 10. When, his family moved to Peshawar, where he enrolled in the Khalsa School for upper-primary education. He completed his matriculation in the summer of 1947.

Dr Singh pursued his education at Panjab University in Chandigarh before advancing to the University of Cambridge in Great Britain. He earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford. In the 1970s, he held various economic advisory roles within the Indian government. Dr Singh also occupied key roles at the Reserve Bank of India, serving as its director from 1976 to 1980 and as governor from 1982 to 1985 and list goes on of his successful professional along with fine human.

He was 13^th Prime Minister of India. We lost a great citizen of this land, who climbed all the success from the bellow, after completing his higher education. His hard work, honesty and punctuality paid him of in his successful life, his contribution towards the Indian economy being as a Finance minister well known for both appreciation and to examine. Singh's initiative in 1991 to end the license raj, but now in 2024, what we can see the monopoly raj of one capitalist. Is this good of the Indian economy?

Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 22 May 2004, this itself is a story of the middle class, who achieved this position only because of the constitutional power, after becoming Prime Minister, he, himself break his own records of success. 

Even as prime minister, Singh drafted his speeches, often assumed to be in Hindi, using the Urdu script, though he occasionally switched to Gurmukhi, the script for Punjabi, his mother tongue.

Dr. Manmohan Singh as prime minister in the year 2006 and how the mild professor, widely regarded as one of the country’s weakest prime ministers, defied interest groups and foes within the political establishment to seal a historic nuclear deal with the United States. Remember Singh became prime minister with the support of Left parties, but many people believed "he betrayed them to strike a nuclear deal with the US”

The most progressive legislations formulated during his time, like the Right to Information Act (RTI) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005 and The Forest Rights Act in 2006, were the path-breaking initiatives for social development and making our largest democracy more transparent and reachable for the most marginalized. In 2009, the Congress party came back to power with an increased majority. Dr Singh's second time taking charge, the second term was not as exciting as the first term. But, Dr Singh continued his commitment to governance & upholding the values of the Indian Constitution. He did not believe in propaganda politics over governance. 

His honesty will always be an inspiration for us and he will forever stand tall among those who truly love this country as someone who remained steadfast in his commitment to serve the nation despite being subjected to unfair and deeply personal attacks by his opponents. Transparency should not be a weakness for the media or intellectuals of any times. I strongly disagree with the Sanjay Baru being called him "Accidental Prime Minister". As we know nothing is predictable in politics, when some big decision to taken. I would say, there was culture of transparency in the decision-making and other policy matters in our county. But, what is happening for more than 10 years. So one should not denigrate such a qualified person. And, we have seen, how the entire media runs a negative campaign against Dr Singh at the end of his second tenure. How people make jokes about Dr Singh's calm & lenient personality. Genuine criticism must be in a healthy democracy, but that should not be agenda-driven. Dr Singh rightly said once in the press conference “History will be kinder to me”. He proved one thing loud and clear; there is a possibility for the good people and the politician at the same time.

He was genuinely egalitarian, wise, strong-willed and courageous until the end of his life. His capacity to be always humane and belief in relentless work, his work and actions will inspiration for the young generation.