Dr Manmohan Singh’s modesty and humbleness are exemplary and legendary. He never was a run-of-the-mill politician in the traditional mould. He never wore any airs of greatness, although he actually was a great man by virtue of what he achieved for the country.
Dr Manmohan Singh loved to speak Punjabi and his opening conversation with people was in Punjabi only, no matter if you talked to him in English or Hindi.
During the 2004 General Elections, he came to Ludhiana to campaign for the Congress candidate Manish Tewari. Since he was not a very popular leader, although known countrywide for the economic reforms he had scripted from 1991 to 1996, the local Congress leaders had not planned any big rallies. He was scheduled to address small groups of people like the “intellectuals”, the “business” community and the journalists.
During one of these programmes, this reporter while working for a leading English daily approached him for an interview. Any other politician would jump to speak to the newspaper this reporter represented then. Dr Singh expressed his inability, saying he was too tired to talk.
Realising that this might sound rude and in bad taste, he pointed towards some reporters who were sitting around, saying he had just spoken to them and advised them to take notes from them.
He had strong family relations with Tewaris. Manish Tewari’s father late Prof Vishwanath Tewari had been his colleague in Panjab University. He specially travelled to Ludhiana and attended quite a few programmes seeking votes for Manish. But Manish lost by a narrow margin in 2004.
As history was unfolding itself, Dr Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, for whatever reasons. But he proved to be an administratively very efficient Prime Minister. It was during his Prime Ministership that the economic reforms were strengthened and consolidated. It was under his leadership that India survived the 2008 global economic crash. And it was under his leadership that India signed the Indo-US Nuclear Deal.
He was undone by some of his allies. Had he been in complete control of things, he would certainly not have allowed them what they did for which Congress had to bear the consequences and is still bearing those.
In 2009, Manish Tewari once again contested from Ludhiana as a Congress candidate. Dr Manmohan Singh again came to campaign for him. Unlike in 2004, when he was just a “former union Finance Minister”, this time in 2009, he was the sitting Prime Minister of the country.
So much had changed during the five years. He was confident and assertive. Unlike in 2004, when he was surrounded by local Congress leaders, in 2009, he was protected by many security layers comprising the commandos of the Special Protection Group (SPG).
By now, Dr Manmohan Singh had become an icon of the strong Indian middle class. Despite having a strong and powerful opponent in BJP’s LK Advani, Dr Manmohan Singh led the Congress to a phenomenal performance winning 206 seats and returning the UPA to power again. It was for the first time since 1991, that any political party in the country had managed to cross the 200 mark in the parliament.
Dr Manmohan Singh addressed a ‘fifteen-minute’ press conference. His “one sentence” did wonders for Manish Tewari, that “vote for Manish is vote for me” and he won by a huge margin of over one lakh votes from Ludhiana. That was the power of Dr Manmohan Singh’s appeal to the people. He had won over the hearts of the countrymen, with his brilliance, efficiency and unassuming simplicity at the same time.
Unlike before being the Prime Minister, after he demitted the office in 2014, access to him was restricted for security reasons. Besides, he was already 80 years old and physically frail.
But before becoming the Prime Minister, he was easily available and accessible to everyone who visited him at his Delhi residence. There were not many servants in the house. His living standards would remind one of the iconic simplicity of another former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
One of the Punjab Congress leaders disclosed that at times, he would serve tea to them himself in case the servants were not available. That was the greatness and the simplicity of the man, who was an economist and a statesman at the same time, with humbleness and humility touching sublime levels in his day-to-day routine.
Follow us
