The country is mourning the passing of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had played a key role in bringing about transformative economic changes in the country as Finance Minister in PV Narsimha Rao’s government and thereafter spearheading the country as Prime Minister between 2004-2014. Dr Y V Reddy, who has had long years of association with Dr Manmohan Singh and refers to him always as “Professor,” pays a tribute from one former RBI Governor to another, here is what Dr Reddy has penned down about the economist finance minister, he knew so well:
Dr Reddy elaborated that: “I have always regarded him first as an economist,” says the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who has known Professor Singh since 1978.” That is a good 46 years! “Professor Manmohan Singh’s career has been exceptional and extraordinarily consequential. What is less well known is he as a person. Professor Manmohan Singh was soft-spoken and scholarly. He was an extremely hard worker and whatever his stress he always kept his cool. He encouraged others to brief him and valued those briefings. However late he slept, by morning he always turned up at work, fresh. In 1991, India was fortunate that he became finance minister since he was closely involved with the policies in the past and was best equipped to appreciate what had been done in managing to survive the Asian crisis.”
Dr Reddy’s highlighted how “He had the knowledge and experience to carry forward on the path to restore confidence, provide appropriate credibility to what was done, and above all, bring about a paradigm shift in the public discourse on development economics. In his tenure, India’s path to liberalization was firmly set. He was required to evolve a new framework that should govern our policies. For this, he built a team he could trust. I was fortunate to be on his team.”
“He was also a deeply empathetic person. When I called upon him on my appointment as governor of the RBI, he, having been a former RBI Governor, said, ‘ the governors job is perhaps the loneliest job in the country.’ he was very right. As Prime Minister, he gave me free access to meet him and invariably, listened with full attention and respect. As many would agree, he will be remembered in history as a legend of Indian economic policy and statecraft,” concluded an emotional Dr Reddy.