Manmohan Singh passes away: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was badly shaken after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that took place during his tenure in 2008, revealed former deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) and his then-close aide Pankaj Saran. Singh had, before the attack, tried his best to establish peaceful ties with Pakistan, he revealed, which made the attack all the more jarring for the statesman.
Saran recalled Singh as a “simple man”, a consensus builder, who never wanted to be the prime minister but served in the capacity for 10 years. The former deputy NSA mourned the demise of the “man who symbolised humility”.
"He was always a great listener, intellectual, an economist of world standing, widely respected. He was the first prime minister at the start of the G20 Summit in 2008, and he developed a very high reputation among the global leaders, whose understanding of economics... All in all, I would say, a very fine person, a great human being, both in his personal life and officially," said Saran to news agency PTI.
Singh believed that India’s future lay in good relations with the West, said the former diplomat, and he tried very hard to establish peace with the neighbours.
"Among the neighbours, he tried very hard to establish some kind of peace with Pakistan but it didn't work. But he tried and he was very disappointed that his efforts did not succeed. In fact, they were rebuffed with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008 when he was prime minister, and that really shook him up very badly," he recalled.
It was not only Pakistan, Singh made a greater outreach to the Gulf and he visited Saudi Arabia too, one of the first prime ministers to do so, said Saran. The diplomat said Singh gave India a very good image overseas.
Speaking of Singh’s economic reforms that began in 1991, Saran said, “In the foreign policy field, I think he will go down in history as the leader who changed the paradigm of India-US relations with his success of the nuclear deal with the US.”
Meanwhile, the US too credited Singh for establishing the foundation for the ties between the two nations. “Dr Singh was one of the greatest champions of the US-India strategic partnership, and his work laid the foundation for much of what our countries have accomplished together in the past two decades,” said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a condolence statement on Singh’s passing.
Saran said that Singh was respected both for his economic and foreign policies. He was always willing to learn, read and understand, and never shut down any contrarian opinion. “I think he was one of the greats of the non-family Congress, and serving as prime minister for 10 years, outside of the family, was a huge achievement," said Saran.
Saran was a 1982-batch IFS officer, who also served as India’s envoy to Russia, and various positions in India, and abroad.