India bade farewell to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of the country’s economic transformation, with a state funeral in New Delhi, complete with full honours and a 21-gun salute.
Sikh priests chanted hymns as Singh’s flag-draped coffin, strewn with rose petals, was carried on a carriage through the capital, pulled by a ceremonially decorated army truck. Congress party supporters chanted: “As long as the sun and moon remain, your name will remain,” and “Long live Manmohan Singh” as Singh’s body was removed from the headquarters of the left-leaning party, where it had been lying in state.
People lined the rain-drenched streets to pay tribute to the man who steered India through some of its most turbulent economic times. “We’re here to honour the man who gave so much to our nation,” one mourner, Jasmeet Pai, told the ANI news agency.
Singh’s family, along with the Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, accompanied his body from the Congress office to the Nigambodh Ghat cremation grounds on the banks of the Yamuna River, where they were joined by political figures from across the spectrum.
The body was covered with a saffron cloth before being placed on the pyre. Upinder Singh, the eldest of his three daughters and a well-known historian, lit the funeral pyre.
Singh’s death at the age of 92 late on Thursday from “age-related conditions” marked the end of an era in Indian politics.
Narendra Modi, who succeeded Singh after his Bharatiya Janata party in 2014 dealt Congress its worst-ever election defeat, attended the funeral along with India’s president, Droupadi Murmu. Modi hailed Singh as one of the nation’s “most distinguished leaders” and said his “wisdom and humility were always evident”. Bhutan’s king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, also attended the funeral.
Singh, known as India’s “reluctant prime minister”, was thrust into the political limelight when Sonia Gandhi declined the role after leading the Congress to a surprise election win.
When she appointed Singh, who was born in a remote village in present-day Pakistan and walked miles to school, the move was hailed as a triumph of meritocracy, the ultimate story of a poor boy made good, now leading the world’s largest democracy.
As prime minister from 2004 to 2014, Singh steered India through a period of fast growth and landmark social reforms. But as the economy slowed, Singh’s government was buffeted by a slew of massive corruption scandals. Singh’s silence during these tense times earned him the nickname “Maunmohan Singh”, or Silent Singh.
It was his leadership as finance minister in the early 1990s, when he dismantled India’s Soviet-inspired planned economy and unleashed liberalisation, that has remained the defining feature of his career.
Singh’s economic reforms laid the foundation for India’s rapid expansion, even as critics argued he failed to tackle corruption within his government in later years and was seen as a leader beholden to the Gandhi family, dogged by accusations that Sonia, widow of assassinated Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi, dictated his every move.
Singh announced his decision in 2014 not to seek a third term. He returned to his first career: teaching. He said: “History will be kinder to me than the contemporary media,” he said at the time.
Indian political columnist Neera Chowdhury said Singh “may have been underestimated in his time, but history will tell a different story,” adding that “his legacy will continue to influence generations to come”.
Global leaders also underscored Singh’s impact. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “India lost a great man,” while the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, called him “one of the greatest champions of the US-India strategic partnership”. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called him an “outstanding statesman”.
The Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, offered a personal tribute. On X, Anwar recalled how during his 1999-to-2014 imprisonment, Singh, who was then opposition leader, offered scholarships for his children, a gesture he declined but never forgot.
“Goodbye, my mitra [friend], my bhai [brother],” Ibrahim said, describing Singh as the “midwife of India’s emergence as one of the world’s economic giants”.
