Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dies

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India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who liberalized the economy and then led the country through a period of strong economic growth, has died.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi said Singh, 92, was receiving treatment for age-related medical conditions, with his death announced on Thursday.

Group of Oxford-educated economists India He was on the path to becoming a fast-growing economy as finance minister from 1991 to 1996, when he opened the country to more foreign trade and private investment.

Singh, considered by some in India to be a political lightweight at the time, was a surprise choice by the Congress Party for prime minister after winning the parliamentary elections in 2004.

Besides A Growth rate With nearly 7% of the vote, Singh’s decade as prime minister was marred by widespread allegations of corruption against his party’s leaders, although his personal integrity was rarely in doubt.

Singh was accused of inaction and opposition parties alleged that he was subservient to then Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Shortly before Congress lost elections to Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, Singh said in a speech to Parliament that “history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or the opposition parties for that matter.”

Prime Minister Modi on Thursday described Singh as one of India’s most prominent leaders, saying he had left a “strong imprint on our economic policy over the years” and had “made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives” as Prime Minister.

Rahul Gandhi, a senior member of the Congress party, paid tribute to Singh, saying he had lost a “teacher and mentor” whose “humility and deep understanding of the nation’s economy” inspired him.

Singh was a member of Parliament for more than three decades, and retired from active politics earlier this year.

Singh, who belongs to India’s Sikh minority, was born to a humble family in 1932 in a village in the Indian state of Punjab before the country’s independence, which is now part of Pakistan.

Singh rose to become one of India’s most successful economists, serving the government in various capacities, including as head of the country’s central bank in the 1980s.