Manmohan Singh's story has not been fully told, said senior Congress leader P Chidambaram as he mourned the loss of the former Prime Minister, adding that the "period from 1991 till 2014 will be a golden chapter" in the history of India.
"It is a deeply emotional moment for me to speak about Dr Manmohan Singh," said Mr Chidambaram, who was a Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance or the UPA.
Manmohan Singh, who was also RBI Governor and Chief Economic Adviser in his long and storied career, died on Thursday due to age-related medical conditions, said the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS. He was 92.
"The life and work of Dr Manmohan Singh and the period from 1991 till 2014 will be a golden chapter in the history of India. I worked closely with him for many years. I have not met a person more humble and self-effacing than Dr Singh. He wore his scholarship lightly and never claimed credit for any of his historic achievements." said Mr Chidambaram, now a Rajya Sabha member.
Mr Singh, who was finance minister under the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao (1991-1996), was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation that is widely believed to have changed the course of India's economic trajectory.
"The story of India turned after Dr Singh became Finance Minister. And the present middle class of India was virtually the creation of his policies as Finance Minister and Prime Minister," said Mr Chidambaram, adding while the former Prime Minister's policies were liberal and progressive, he "never forgot the poor".
Citing examples of the former Prime Minister's "sterling commitment to the poor", P Chidambaram singled out the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MNREGA, a rural jobs guarantee scheme, and the restructuring of the Public Distribution System or PDS.
"Throughout his tenure, he had great empathy for the poor. He did not hide the fact that many millions of India are poor and reminded us that government's policies must lean in favour of the poor. Examples of his empathy are MGNREGA and the restructuring of PDS and the extension of the mid-day meal scheme.
"His story has not been told fully. His achievements have not been recorded fully. I am sure when we look back upon the 23 years that Dr Singh was in active politics, we will realize his true contribution," said Mr Chidambaram.
Manmohan Singh is survived by wife Gurcharan Singh and three daughters.
