Manmohan Singh: Goodbye Manmohan Singh! A phone call that changed the country and the life of the former PM; the story is from 1991

Former Prime Minister of the country Manmohan Singh died on the night of 26 December at around 10 pm. Born on 26 September 1932 in Pakistan, Manmohan Singh's biggest day in life came in June 1991.

Manmohan Singh had returned to Delhi after attending a conference in the Netherlands and went to sleep in his room. That night he received a call. After a long time, Singh's son-in-law Vijay Tankha picked up his phone. The voice on the other side was of PV Narasimha Rao's confidant PC Alexander. Alexander urged Vijay to wake up his father-in-law Manmohan Singh.

One meeting had changed Singh's life.

Manmohan Singh and Alexander met a few hours later and the officer told Singh about Narasimha Rao's plan to appoint him as the Finance Minister. Singh, who was the chairman of UGC at the time and had never been in politics, did not take Alexander seriously but Rao was serious. This incident happened just a day before the swearing-in ceremony.

On June 21, he was at his UGC office. He was told to go home, get dressed, and attend the swearing-in ceremony, Manmohan Singh says in his daughter Daman Singh's book 'Strictly Personal, Manmohan and Gursharan'.

Everyone was surprised to see me as a member of the new team ready to take the oath of office. My portfolio was allocated later, but Narasimha Rao ji told me straight away that I was going to be the finance minister.

That appointment changed the direction of India's economy. From a parochial, control-heavy, low-growth economy it has become the world's fastest-growing major economy today.

Along with Rao, Singh was the architect of the 1991 reforms, which faced attacks from within and outside the Congress. The economy was in shambles, foreign exchange reserves had fallen to Rs 2,500 crore, barely enough to cover 2 weeks of imports, global banks were refusing to lend, and inflation was rising.

PC Alexander had suggested Singh's name.

PC Alexander was Narasimha Rao's advisor at that time. Narasimha Rao told him that an international-level person is needed for the post of Finance Minister. Alexander suggested the name of former RBI Governor IG Patel, but he refused due to his mother's illness. Then Alexander suggested Manmohan Singh's name.

Political journey

Manmohan Singh's political journey started after taking oath as Finance Minister. He became a Rajya Sabha member from Assam in 1991. His tenure as Finance Minister was from 1991 to 1996. As Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh became the leader of economic liberalization. He ended the license raj, foreign investment increased and jobs came. After this, Manmohan Singh was the leader of the opposition from 1998 to 2004 and then the PM of the country from 2004 to 2014.

No power in the world can stop that idea...

In his first budget, Manmohan Singh quoted Victor Hugo's famous line that "No power in the world can stop an idea whose time has come." In his budget speech, he repeatedly named Rajiv Gandhi, Indira, and Nehru, but did not hesitate to reverse their economic policies.