I came to know Dr Manmohan Singh during his first term as Prime Minister when he, on the advice of Montek Ahluwalia, appointed me as an economic advisor. Over the years since then, through my term as RBI governor and after, I had the privilege of interacting with him periodically.
Dr Singh was a brilliant economist with an ambitious vision of what a liberal India could be, combined with a fine sense of what was possible politically. He was understated and soft spoken, which allowed him to attract the best and the brightest, ranging from Montek Singh Ahluwalia to C Rangarajan, to his team. The liberalisation and reforms he undertook with the support of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao laid the foundations of the modern Indian economy, and spurred the decades of robust growth we still enjoy.
In his terms as prime minister, Dr Singh’s ability to reform the economy further was somewhat hampered, first by coalition politics then by opposition non-cooperation. Nevertheless, his government passed landmark legislation like the National Food Security Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, targeted at segments of Indian society that are often overlooked. He also sought to strengthen Indian institutions and apply checks and balances on the government. The Right to Information Act stands out as one of the few pieces of legislation where the Indian government has subjected itself to greater scrutiny. And some of the reforms his government contemplated but could not enact, such as the Goods and Services Tax, were enacted by the subsequent NDA government.
Dr Singh also had singular achievements on the administrative side. In his first term as prime minister, he strengthened relations with the US, culminating in the Civil Nuclear Deal. In some ways, the US-India relationship may be the key global relationship of the 21st century, and Dr Singh put it on stable footing. In his second term, he appointed Nandan Nilekani to head the unique ID rollout, which became the foundation of the India Stack and successful products like UPI payments. Those were also years of extraordinary growth. After the initial recovery post-global financial crisis, Dr Singh recognised the growing risks to the economy from excessive spending, and brought back P Chidambaram as finance minister to restore macroeconomic stability. While India experienced volatility during the Taper Tantrum, matters could have been much worse without Dr Singh’s prescience.
What struck me in our meetings was Dr Singh’s curiosity. He opened every one of our personal meetings with questions about the world and what I worried about. Most persons with his experience and achievements would have held forth on their views. Instead, Dr Singh heard others out, and then tried to make use of what they conveyed.
I particularly remember a lunch he hosted for senior officials to discuss the final report of a committee I chaired on financial sector reforms. Throughout the meeting, Dr Singh was silent while others debated. I remember thinking that few persons in authority would be so self-effacing. But his approach was supremely effective in creating the space for an exchange of views, space that could be easily snuffed out if someone with his knowledge and experience, leave alone his position, expressed their thoughts. At the end, Dr Singh thanked everyone and gave a sagacious summary of what could be taken forward from the report.
Dr Singh never dismissed criticism or critics. One of my most vivid memories is of a panel organised by the late Isher Ahluwalia in early 2012, while re-releasing a book celebrating Dr Singh’s reforms as finance minister. There were five people on the panel and a packed auditorium. Isher led off, praising the reforms of the 1990s, but she then turned to the need to correct the current drift in the government and the economy. She did not mince words, even though the Prime Minister was her friend. T N Ninan and I followed, taking our cue from her, in much the same vein, while Subba Rao, the governor of the Reserve Bank, was appropriately measured in his tone.
Finally, the fifth panelist spoke. It was Dr Singh. Instead of reacting angrily or defensively, he simply said he had obtained a lot of food for thought, and he would reflect on it. I believe that some of the subsequent changes to the government, including the Finance Ministry, may have emanated from that reflection.
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That exchange said a lot about both Isher Ahluwalia and Dr Singh, and an era that seems so long ago. She said what needed saying, and saying it in public had added force. He understood why it was being said. On an occasion when praise was all that might have been expected, he also received criticism, and did not take it as a sign of hostility. How different our country would be if more leaders imbibed the spirit of these two friends.
Dr Singh was a man of great integrity, never using any of his offices for personal gain or to benefit his family. Though corruption scandals engulfed some government ministries and coalition partners in his second term, they never touched him. Nevertheless, they clouded his record. With the passage of time, though, many of the allegations have not withstood judicial scrutiny, while his economic reforms seem ever more visionary and important.
After he demitted office, I used to ask Dr Singh why he did not write a book about his life and experiences, in part so that the nation would have a true record. He always demurred, suggesting it was not for him to write his own history. Now it is too late, but I believe history will judge him as a truly great son of India.
The writer is former governor, Reserve Bank of India
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