Dr. Manmohan Singh is perhaps the only world leader, till date, who was an alumnus of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Before becoming the prime minister, Dr. Singh chaired almost all the top offices of the Indian government related to economy. Chief Economic Advisor, Finance secretary, Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, RBI Governor before being elevated to be the finance minister. Nothing of this sort ever happened in the history of India.
“The highlight of his political career as the prime minister was the 1998 nuclear deal with America, which he stood by ended the era of sanctions placed on India after the Pokhran 2 nuclear tests of 1998 with partial sanctions by IAEA that covered only the civil nuclear facilities and placed it at the Centre of the international community and secured India a place at the nuclear club high table.”
In 2009, Dr. Singh became the Prime Minister for a second time and the western world saw how a person on merit can rise to the top. A boy who used to study under the street lamps, went to the top institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge due to sheer dedication and commitment towards education. He was never a caste leader or a divisive policy maker. His only rise to the prime minister’s post was due to his academic learning, and excellence in various bureaucratic roles.
He gently steered the Indian economy towards a radical flip from the policies of the past. All what was required was a strong leadership supported with firm and steady policies to steer the nation out of the situation when the entire world was reeling under financial depression. Dr. Singh during his tenure, led from the front and inculcated economic policy decisions and political moves which were in national interest.
“During his decade long tenure as prime minister, the man despite being one of the humblest world leaders was subjected to intensive media trials. The journalists who could not even spell out a single word now, without sanctions from a few leaders, had the audacity to ask unfair and intense questions from which Dr. Singh never shied away. Instead, he took all the questions whether good or bad, sane or insane, he never disparaged the institution of free media. He was of the view that the power of dialogue and criticism is good for a healthy democracy. Unlike now.“
Since the early 1990s, the middle class became supportive of the new economic policies as they brought tangible economic benefits to them in the form of tax breaks and raising of the personal income tax ceiling. Moreover, foreign investment and expansion of industries, particularly the service sector, provided opportunity for job change and higher salaries for the middle class.
New opportunities provided by the success of economic reforms contributed to expansion of the service industry, specifically IT and BT, and contributed to the rise of the salaried class of women.
Besides the emergence of a vibrant middle class with spending power, the policies gave birth to a new generation of industrialists and entrepreneurs who began to compete globally. The outcome was real GDP clocking over 8% every year since 2004, accompanied by a jump in innovation and start-ups.
The size of the middle class increased as the percentage of people living below poverty line declined from 37% in 2004-05 to 22% in 2011-12. Many people joined the aspirational class owing to the UPA’s policy of ‘reforms with a human face’, and inclusive policies, such as Food Security Act and Employment Guarantee Act, which were designed to protect the poor.
“Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh contested elections only once in his political career, but could not win. This was during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress president was Sonia Gandhi. To bring back the Congress which was out of power since 1996, Sonia Gandhi had decided to field all her top leaders in the elections. On Sonia’s insistence, Manmohan Singh also agreed to contest the elections. However, the experience of contesting elections was not good for him. That is why he never contested the Lok Sabha elections again.”
Manmohan Singh lost the 1999 election by about 30 thousand votes. BJP’s Vijay Malhotra got 261230 votes on the South Delhi Lok Sabha seat and Congress’ Manmohan Singh got 231231 votes. The electoral defeat on the South Delhi Lok Sabha seat came as a shock to Manmohan. After this, he started feeling that his electoral career ended as soon as it started, but it did not happen. Manmohan Singh remained on his Rajya Sabha seat. Not only this, Congress also kept him as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In 2004, once again Congress offered Manmohan Singh a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections, but he refused and never contested the elections again.
