Manmohan Singh’s decisions that shaped a billion lives

The Congress party made a comeback in 2004 elections, handing a surprise defeat to the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was widely expected to head the government, but many members of the outgoing ruling party raised questions over the fact that she was born in Italy. She declined to take up the post and instead proposed Singh’s name, who was seen as a non-controversial, consensus candidate of great personal integrity.

In the next parliamentary election, he helped his party win a bigger mandate, but critics often termed him a “remote-controlled” prime minister managed by the Gandhi family.

Singh often refused to comment on such allegations and kept his focus on the job.

He may have started his first stint as prime minister with some reluctance but he soon stamped his authority on the top job.

Singh’s tenure, particularly between 2004 and 2009, saw the country’s GDP grow at a healthy average pace of around 8%, the second fastest among major economies.

He took bold decisions on reforms and brought more foreign investment into the country. Experts credit him for shielding India from the 2008 global financial crisis.

But his second term, in an alliance with a disparate group of parties, was marked by allegations of corruption against some of his cabinet ministers, though his personal integrity was never questioned.

In response to these allegations, he told journalists in 2014 in his last press conference as prime minister that he hoped history would judge him differently.

“I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the opposition parties in parliament,” he said.

“I think taking into account the circumstances and the compulsions of a coalition polity, I have done as best as I could do under the circumstances.”