When former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh died, the country lost a great mind and a kind leader. He gave his life to help India. As the Finance Minister, he changed the Indian money world when it was in a big mess, using his deep know-how in money matters. He then became the Prime Minister and made a big mark on how the country runs and its money.
People often called him the “accidental Prime Minister.” When his book, Changing India, came out in 2019, Manmohan Singh talked about that name. He said, “I am not only the accidental Prime Minister but also the accidental Finance Minister of the country.”
Looking back to when he was named Finance Minister, Singh said, “When Narasimha Rao was in power, I was at a UGC meeting. Rao called to ask, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m in my office.’ He then told me, ‘You will be sworn in as a minister.’ I did not take his words to heart, but soon, I was made Finance Minister out of the blue.”
In 1991, as India dealt with a big money crisis, the new Prime Minister Narasimha Rao chose RBI Governor Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister, to the surprise of many. Even with a lot of pushback, Singh set big changes to fix and make new India’s money set up, and he led the nation away from a fall. His hard work got him known all over the world as a top money-mind.
From 1998 to 2004, Singh was the main voice against the ruling group in the Rajya Sabha. When the UPA won in 2004, he became Prime Minister for the first time on May 22, 2004. In 2009, he started his second term, making a strong mark as a leader who changed how India’s rules and money world worked.