Amritsar neighbour recalls Manmohan’s humility
People who live next to the house here where former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spent his growing up years on Friday recalled his humble nature, terming his passing away an irreparable loss.
Singh was born at Gah in Punjab province which now falls in Pakistan’s Chakwal district before his family migrated to Amritsar after Partition. He completed his schooling from Amritsar and did his graduation in economics from the Hindu College here.
Raj Kumar (71), a local resident, told PTI Videos that Singh used to live in Petha Wala Bazaar near the Golden Temple.
Recalling Singh as a very humble person, Kumar said, “I was a child then when his family shifted out.” The house where the Singh family lived is in a dilapidated state now as no one stays there since they moved out a long time ago, Kumar said.
Singh, the architect of India’s economic reforms, passed away on Thursday night at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 92.
The Congress leader, who steered the country for 10 years from 2004-2014 and helped set up the country’s economic framework as finance minister before that, was a renowned name in the global financial and economic sectors. (PTI)
The professor who left indelible mark on Delhi University’s School of Economics
In the corridors of the Delhi School of Economics (DSE), where ideas often find shape and future leaders are quietly moulded, the memories of former prime minister Manmohan Singh remain deeply etched.
Long before he became the architect of India’s economic liberalisation and later, its prime minister, Singh was a professor at the DSE, nurturing minds with the clarity and grace that would go on to define his public life.The DSE community is in mourning following the demise of Singh.The institution remembers him not just as a celebrated economist and statesman but as one of its own — a mentor, a colleague and an honorary professor.
“The DSE fraternity is saddened at the passing away of former prime minister and a highly-distinguished DSE fraternity member, Dr Manmohan Singh. He served as a professor at the Delhi School of Economics from 1969 to 1971.
“In 1971, he left the DSE only to work as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the chief economic advisor to the Ministry of Finance and in various other senior positions, such as the finance minister and later, as the prime minister. He was the chief architect of the 1991 reforms that set our economy on a fast growth path. As the prime minister, he positioned India as an important player in the emerging geopolitical order,” Ram Singh, director of the DSE, told PTI.
Reflecting on his memories of the former prime minister, his former colleague and a member of the Centre for Development Economics, Om Prakash, said, “I had the proud privilege of being a colleague of Professor Manmohan Singh at the DSE in the early 1970s. I found him to be an extremely helpful and kind man, always willing to help his younger colleagues.” “Even after he left the department, he was always available to help you in whichever way he could. I will always remember him as a gentleman and an extraordinarily kind person,” he added.
Singh’s connection with the DSE endured for long after he left the institute. He served as an honorary professor at the Centre for Development Economics and frequently engaged with the school, whether as a guest speaker or as a source of quiet encouragement.In 2006, two years after becoming the prime minister, he visited the DSE and awarded the toppers of the MA Economics stream with the Manmohan Singh scholarship, reflecting his pivotal role in its intellectual foundation.
Earlier this year, Singh, whose health conditions were deteriorating, penned a heartfelt message to the director of the DSE, declining an invitation to deliver the valedictory address for the institution’s diamond-jubilee celebrations.
“Much as I would have been happy to accept your kind invitation, I regret that because of the indifferent state of my health, I will not be able to accept your kind request,” he wrote, signing off with his best wishes for the event.
My uncle was always a family man, recalls nephew
Former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who died last night was a true family man and even as the executive head of the country, he was most cordial with family, recollected Gurdeep Singh, nephew of the departed statesman.
Gurdeep Singh stays in Kolkata with his 85-year-old mother Govind Kaur, the younger sister of Dr Manmohan Singh.
“He was my maternal uncle and my mother’s elder brother. Our relationship with him was as normal and cordial as it happens in any family even when he was holding important portfolios including the Prime Minister of India,” said Gurdeep Singh while speaking to IANS
According to him, despite his busy schedule, the former Indian Prime Minister was always in touch with them. “My father was diagnosed in 2004. At that point of time, my uncle kept on calling me regularly despite his busy schedule and enquired about the medical conditions of my father. After the demise of my father, he immediately came to Kolkata to stand by us. He was then the Prime Minister of India,” recalled Gurdeep Singh.
He said that even as Prime Minister of the country, family matters were quite important for Dr Singh. Gurdeep Singh also recollected a nostalgic moment of the former Prime Minister interacting with his mother over a video call from New Delhi.
“In September this year I met him when I went to New Delhi. Then I requested him to speak to my mother over a video call. That was really a nostalgic moment,” Gurdeep Singh recalled.He informed that some of his family members have already reached Delhi from Kolkata. “My mother was also very keen to go. But her medical conditions are not suitable for travel. I will be leaving for New Delhi on Saturday morning,” Gurdeep Singh said. (IANS)
When Manmohan Singh intervened on behalf of students, requested leniency from JNU V-C
Erudite and soft-spoken, former prime minister Manmohan Singh developed his reputation as a consensus builder during his stint as the finance minister who opened the doors for economic reform in India.
But it was his intervention to prevent the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration from acting against students who had held a protest against him in 2005 that showcased a fresh dimension of his persona.
Visiting the JNU campus to unveil a statue of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Singh was shown black flags by Left-backed students.The incident led to the university issuing showcause notices to the students, with a few of them even being detained by the Delhi Police.
A day later, Singh intervened, suggesting to the then vice-chancellor BB Bhattacharya to be lenient with the students.During his visit to the campus, known for its strong anti-establishment stance, Singh had quoted the French philosopher Voltaire, saying, “’I may disagree with what you have to say but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.Every member of a university community, if he or she wishes to aspire to be worthy of the university, must accept the truth of Voltaire’s classic statement. Voltaire proclaimed ‘I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it’. That idea must be the cornerstone of a liberal institution,” Singh had said in his speech.Recalling the incident, a retired JNU professor said, “The students waved black flags at him. The-then vice-chancellor received a call from the PMO, asking him to be lenient with the students as holding protests was their right. The students were then let off with a warning.” JNU has been an epicentre of protests in the past decade, with the 2016 sedition controversy triggering a debate about freedom of speech and expression on campus.Bhattarcharya in 2016 recalled the 2005 incident during an interview.“Manmohan Singh had told me ‘please be lenient, sir’. I said I have to at least warn them… but the problem today is that lines of communication with students have broken down,” he had said. (PTI)