Manmohan Singh – remembering India’s ‘dear leader’ with steely determination

It is somewhat difficult to imagine the prospect of a shy politician. Unless that politician is Manmohan Singh.

Since the death of the former Indian prime minister on Thursday, much has been said about the ‘kind and gentle politician’ who changed the course of Indian history and affected the lives of millions.

His state funeral is being held on Saturday and the Indian government has declared an official mourning period of seven days.

Despite his illustrious career – he was governor of India’s central bank and federal finance minister before becoming prime minister for two terms – Singh has never emerged as a big-stage politician, devoid of the public fawning of many of his colleagues.

Although he gave interviews and held press conferences, especially during his first term as prime minister, he preferred to remain silent even when his government was mired in scandal or when his cabinet ministers faced allegations of corruption.

His gentlemanly manners were both condemned and adored in equal measure.

His admirers said he was careful not to pick unnecessary battles or making high promises and that it focuses on results – perhaps best illustrated by market reforms he came in as finance minister which opened India’s economy to the world.

“I don’t think anyone in India believes that Manmohan Singh can do anything bad or corrupt,” he said former colleague in the Congress party, Kapil Sibal, once said,. “He was extremely cautious and always wanted to be on the right side of the law.

His opponents, on the other hand, derided him, saying he displayed a kind of nebulousness unbecoming of a politician, let alone the prime minister of a country of more than a billion people. His voice – husky and breathless, almost like a tired whisper – was often the subject of jokes.

But the same voice was also endearing to many who found him relatable in a world of politics where high-octane, high-octane speeches were the norm.

Singh’s image as a media-shy, unassuming, introverted politician has never left him, even as his contemporaries, including members of his own party, go through dramatic cycles of reinvention.

Yet it was the dignity with which he maneuvered through every situation – even the difficult ones – that made him so memorable.

Born into a poor family in what is now Pakistan, Singh was the first Sikh Prime Minister of India. His personal story – of a Cambridge and Oxford-educated economist who overcame insurmountable odds to rise through the ranks – combined with his image as an honest and thoughtful leader, had already made him a hero to India’s middle class.

But in 2005 he surprised everyone when he publicly apologized 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 blamed, erupted after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. One of them later said they shot a Congress politician to avenge a military crackdown she ordered against separatists holed up in Sikhism’s holiest temple in Amritsar in northern India.

It was a bold move – no other prime minister, including from the Congress party, had gone so far as to offer an apology. But it gave a healing touch to the Sikh community and politicians from different parties respected him for the brave act.

A few years later, in 2008, Singh’s humble leadership style received more praise after he signed a landmark deal with the US that ended India’s decades-long nuclear isolation, allowing India access to nuclear technology and fuel for the first time since testing in 1974.

The deal was heavily criticized by opposition leaders and Singh’s own allies, who feared it would compromise India’s foreign policy. However, Singh was able to save both his government and the deal.

The period 2008-2009 also witnessed global financial turmoil, but Singh’s policies were credited with shielding India from them.

In 2009 he led his party to a resounding victory and returned as prime minister for a second term, cementing his image as a benevolent leader, or rather the exciting idea that leaders could be kind.

For many, he had become the epitome of virtue, the “reluctant prime minister” who stayed out of the limelight and refused to make dramatic gestures, but was also unafraid to take bold decisions for the sake of his country’s future.

Then things started to unravel.

A series of corruption allegations – first over the hosting of the Commonwealth Games, then the illegal allocation of coalfields – plagued the Congress party and the Singh government. Some of these allegations of corruption were later found to be false or exaggerated. Some cases from the period are still pending in the courts.

But Singh had already begun to feel some pressure. During his tenure, he made several attempts at reconciliation with India’s arch-rival, neighbor Pakistan, hoping to thaw decades of frosty relations.

The approach was sharply questioned in 2008 when a terror an attack led 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 has opened a chasm of blame, as the opposition blamed the government’s “soft stance” on terrorism for the tragedy.

In the years that followed, other decisions Singh made turned out to be bad.

In 2011 an anti-corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare rocked the Singh government. The frail 72-year-old has become an icon for the middle class as he has called for tough anti-corruption laws in the country.

As a middle-class hero, Singh was expected to handle Hazare’s demands more shrewdly. Instead, the prime minister tried to quell the movement, allowing the police to arrest Hazare and break up his demonstration.

The move sparked a wave of public and media hostility against him. Those who once admired his understated style wondered if they had misjudged politics and began to view his quiet manner through a less generous lens.

The feeling intensified the following year when Singh refused to comment on the horrific gang-rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi for more than a week.

To make matters worse, India’s economic growth was slowing. Corruption grew and jobs shrunk, causing waves of public anger. And Singh’s unassuming personality, which once made his every move seem like a revelation, has been labeled as showing complacency, self-doubt and even arrogance by some.

Yet Singh never tried to defend himself or explain, and quietly faced the criticism.

That was until 2014. In a rare press conference, he announced that he would not run for a third term.

But he also tried to set the record straight. “I sincerely believe that history will judge me more kindly than the modern media, or for that matter the opposition parties in parliament,” he said after listing some of the biggest achievements of his tenure.

He was right.

As it turned out, neither the Congress nor Singh could fully recover from the damage as they lost the general election to the BJP. But despite the many obstacles, Singh’s image as a kind and shrewd leader stuck with him.

Throughout his tenure as prime minister and despite his controversial second term, he maintained an aura of personal dignity and integrity.

His policies are seen as centered around the middle class and the poor – he approved multiple pay rises for central government officials, reined in inflation and introduced orientation schemes for education and jobs.

It may not have been enough to lift him from the hurdles of politics or protect him from some of the setbacks of his career.

But there was more to his shyness; he was a leader with steely determination.