Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely considered the architect of the country’s economic reform program, was cremated after a state funeral on Saturday, with politicians and the public mourning his death.
The veteran leader, who was also credited with reaching a landmark nuclear agreement with the United States, died late Thursday at the age of 92.
Singh’s body was transported on Saturday morning to the headquarters of his Congress party in New Delhi, where party leaders and activists paid tribute to him and chanted, “Manmohan Singh lives forever.”
Abhishek Bishnoi, party leader, said Singh’s death is a great loss for the country. He said: “He spoke little, but his talent and actions spoke louder than his words.”
Later, Singh’s body was taken to the crematorium for his last rites while soldiers beat drums.
Government officials, politicians and family members paid final tributes to Singh, whose coffin was decorated with flowers and draped in the Indian flag. The security men honored him with a gun salute.
Indian President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described Singh as one of the country’s “most prominent leaders”, and several ministers participated in the funeral ceremony.
Singh’s body was then taken to a crematorium and cremated while religious hymns were played.
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The authorities declared a seven-day mourning period and canceled all cultural and entertainment events during that period. Government buildings across India fly the national flag at half-staff.
A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh was prime minister for ten years and leader of the Congress party in the upper house of parliament, earning a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. He was chosen for the post of Prime Minister in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Singh was re-elected in 2009, but his second term was marred by financial scandals and accusations of corruption over the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to a crushing defeat for the Congress Party in the 2014 national elections at the hands of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Singh stayed away from the limelight after relinquishing the post of Prime Minister.
As finance minister, Singh in 1991 instituted reforms that moved India away from a socialist economy and towards a capitalist model in the face of a huge balance of payments deficit, to avert a potential economic crisis.
Singh was the first Sikh to hold the country’s highest office and made a public apology in Parliament for the 1984 Sikh massacre in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
In a move considered one of his biggest achievements alongside economic reforms, Singh ended India’s nuclear isolation by signing an agreement with the United States that gave India access to American nuclear technology.
But the agreement damaged his coalition government, with communist allies withdrawing their support and criticism of the agreement growing inside India in 2008 when it was finalized.
In his condolence statement, US President Joe Biden described Singh as a true statesman and a dedicated public servant who “charted groundbreaking progress that will continue to strengthen our nations – and the world – for generations to come.”
“The unprecedented level of cooperation between the United States and India today would not have been possible without the Prime Minister’s strategic vision and political courage,” Biden said.
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