A statesman for the ages
IT’s a sad moment for the entire nation and the world at large that Dr Manmohan Singh is no more. What’s even sadder is that they just don’t make them like him anymore. He was truly a class apart, a statesman who managed to keep his gentleness and humility intact in the rough and tumble of politics. In his final address to the nation as Prime Minister on May 17, 2014, the day after the Congress-led UPA was routed in the Lok Sabha elections, he humbly reiterated that his life and tenure in public office were an open book. There was no reason to disbelieve him when he said that he had always tried to do his best in serving the nation. He gave it his all, first as Finance Minister — when he masterfully spearheaded liberalisation of the Indian economy — and then as PM. Things didn’t always go his way, but that didn’t stop him from working hard “with diligence as my tool, truth as my beacon”.
His stress on truth and transparency was not a sham. Among the greatest achievements of the government he headed was the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005. This landmark legislation was aimed at empowering citizens and ensuring much-needed accountability in the working of government departments. The veil of secrecy around governance was lifted at last, and the people realised that there was much more to democracy than casting their vote. The year 2005 also witnessed the rollout of another pathbreaking reform, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. This social welfare measure transformed the lives of people in the hinterland by bolstering the livelihood security of rural households. However, Manmohan Singh was not one to shout from the rooftops about his government’s initiatives. Nor did he stoop to patting himself on the back or giving the impression that he was God’s gift to the country. It was always service before self for him. His failing was that he did not do enough to stem the rot that triggered the decline and fall of the UPA government. It was this lapse that enabled the BJP to ride high on the anti-corruption plank and wrest power from the Congress.
At the international level, his visionary leadership propelled the India-US civil nuclear deal, which acted as a game-changer for strategic cooperation between the two nations. Their presently strong bilateral ties owe a lot to the efforts made by the Manmohan Singh government. And he wisely chose to avoid retaliation against Pakistan after India was rocked by the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. This was not a sign of weakness; it was a pragmatic decision that prevented the two neighbours from plunging headlong into yet another war.
Though he was generally soft-spoken and self-effacing, he didn’t flinch from speaking his mind when things became intolerable. In a letter released ahead of the final phase of polling in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he lambasted his successor, Narendra Modi, for indulging in the “most vicious form of hate speeches, which are purely divisive”. He went on to say that Modi was the first PM to lower the dignity of public discourse.
Leading the nation in paying tributes to Manmohan Singh, PM Modi has said that his predecessor’s commitment to the people and the country’s development would always be respected and remembered. It remains to be seen if the BJP-led NDA, which misses no opportunity to blame Jawaharlal Nehru for the ills afflicting the nation today, will desist from defiling the legacy of Manmohan Singh. With his government no longer all-powerful, there is a lot that Modi can learn from India’s first Sikh PM. The most important lesson is that no leader or government is bigger than the nation. And it’s no less significant to let actions speak louder than words, like Manmohan Singh amply demonstrated.
