Reuters
Manmohan Singh appeared in public as a calm and gentle person
It is somewhat difficult to imagine the perspective of a timid politician. Unless that politician is Manmohan Singh.
Since the death of the former Indian Prime Minister on Thursday, there has been a lot of talk about this “gracious, soft-spoken politician” who changed the course of Indian history and impacted the lives of millions.
His state funeral will take place on Saturday and the Indian government has announced an official seven-day mourning period.
Despite an illustrious career – he served as governor of India's central bank and federal finance minister before becoming prime minister for two terms – Singh never established himself as a high-profile politician, lacking the public boldness of many of his peers.
Although he gave interviews and held press conferences, notably during his first term as prime minister, he chose to remain silent even when his government was mired in scandals or when his ministers faced allegations of corruption.
His gentlemanly ways were both deplored and adored in equal measure.
Reuters
Singh was known for leading India during a period of strong economic growth
His admirers said he was careful not to start unnecessary battles or make lofty promises and focused on results – perhaps best exemplified by the pro-market reforms he introduced as Finance Minister and who opened the Indian economy to the world.
“I don't think anyone in India believes that Manmohan Singh could do anything wrong or corrupt,” his former Congress party colleague Kapil Sibal once said. “He was extremely careful and he always wanted to be on the right side of the law.”
His opponents, on the other hand, mocked him, saying that he displayed a kind of vagueness that does not befit a politician, much less a prime minister of a country of more than a billion of inhabitants. His voice – hoarse and breathy, almost like a tired whisper – often became the butt of jokes.
But the same voice was also endearing to many who found him relevant in a political world where shrill, high-octane speeches were the norm.
Singh's image as a shy, unassuming and media-introverted politician never left him, even as his contemporaries, including members of his own party, went through dramatic cycles of reinvention.
Yet it was the dignity with which he handled every situation – even the most difficult ones – that made him so memorable.
Born into a poor family in what is now Pakistan, Singh was India's first Sikh prime minister. His personal story – that of a Cambridge and Oxford-educated economist who overcame insurmountable odds to rise through the ranks – coupled with his image as an honest and thoughtful leader, had already made him a hero to India's middle classes.
But in 2005, he surprised everyone by publicly apologizing in Parliament for the 1984 riots in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed.
The riots, in which several members of the Congress party were charged, broke out after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, by her Sikh bodyguards. One of them later said they had shot dead the Congress politician to avenge a military action she had ordered against separatists hiding in Sikhism's holiest temple in Amritsar, northern India. India.
It was a bold move: no other prime minister, including that of the Congress party, had gone so far as to apologize. But it brought a healing touch to the Sikh community and politicians from all parties respected him for this courageous act.
Reuters
Singh was often accused of being a “puppet” of the Gandhis – a charge he denied.
A few years later, in 2008, Singh's low-key style of leadership received more praise after he signed a historic deal with the United States that ended India's decades-long nuclear isolation, allowing India to access nuclear technology and fuel for the first time since it began testing. in 1974.
The deal was massively criticized by opposition leaders and Singh's own allies, who feared it would undermine India's foreign policy. Singh, however, managed to save both his government and the agreement.
The 2008–2009 period was also marked by global financial turmoil, but Singh's policies were credited with shielding India from it.
In 2009, he led his party to a resounding victory and returned to the post of prime minister for a second term, cementing his image as a benevolent leader, or rather the exciting idea that leaders could be benevolent.
For many, he became virtue personified, the “reluctant prime minister” who stayed out of the spotlight and refused to make dramatic gestures, but who was also not afraid to make bold decisions for the good of the future of his country.
Then things started to go downhill.
A series of corruption allegations – first around the hosting of the Commonwealth Games, then the illegal allocation of coal fields – have plagued the Congress party and Singh's government. Some of these corruption allegations were later found to be false or exaggerated. Some cases from this period are still pending before the courts.
But Singh was already starting to feel some pressure. During his tenure, he repeatedly attempted to reconcile with Pakistan, India's main rival, in hopes of a thaw in decades-old frosty relations.
This approach was sharply questioned in 2008, when a terrorist attack carried out by a Pakistan-based terrorist group killed 171 people in the city of Mumbai.
The 60-hour siege, one of the bloodiest in the country's history, opened a chasm of allegations, with the opposition blaming the government's “soft stance” on terrorism for the tragedy.
Getty Images
He was the first leader after Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after serving a full term.
In the years to come, other decisions made by Singh backfired.
In 2011, an anti-corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare shook Singh's government. The frail 72-year-old has become an icon for the middle classes, demanding stricter anti-corruption laws in the country.
As a middle-class hero, Singh was expected to respond to Hazare's demands with more insight. Instead, the prime minister attempted to suppress the movement, allowing police to arrest Hazare and disband his protest.
This decision fueled a wave of public and media hostility against him. Those who once admired his understated style wondered whether they had misjudged the politician and began to view his understated ways in a less generous light.
This feeling grew the following year when Singh refused to comment on the horrific gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi for over a week.
Worse still, India's economic growth was slowing. Corruption grew and jobs shrank, triggering waves of public anger. And Singh's unassuming personality, which once made his every move seem like a revelation, has been characterized as complacent, distrustful and even arrogance by some.
Yet Singh never tried to defend or explain himself and faced criticism quietly.
Getty Images
Singh's approach to seeking peace with Pakistan was criticized after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
That was until 2014. In a rare press conference, he announced that he would not seek a third term.
But he also tried to set the record straight. “I honestly believe that history will judge me more kindly than the contemporary media, or the opposition parties in Parliament have done,” he said, after listing some of the greatest achievements of his mandate.
He was right.
As it turned out, neither the Congress nor Singh could fully recover from the damage after losing the general elections to the BJP. But despite the many obstacles, Singh's image as a kind and insightful leader remained etched in his memory.
Throughout his tenure as Prime Minister and despite a second term mired in controversy, he retained an aura of personal dignity and integrity.
His policies were seen as centered on the middle class and the poor – he approved multiple salary increases for central employees, brought inflation under control and introduced historic education and employment programs.
It may not have been enough to rescue him from the dilemmas of politics or protect him from some of the failures of his career.
But there was more to his shyness; he was a leader of unwavering determination.
