THE ECONOMIC LIBERATOR

'His life story is about how, in the desert of political cynicism, there can be a flowing oasis. That it is possible to uphold the highest principles and still succeed in public life'

- PRAVEEN CHAKRAVARTY

BUT did she not just do what she promised her supporters," asked Dr. Manmohan Singh to me on 25th September 2022, his 90th birthday. When streams of visitors were pouring in to wish him, he was more interested in discussing the then UK Prime Minister Liz Truss' controversial budget that she had just presented which eventually led to the collapse of her government.

This one incident conveys a lot about Dr Singh, as I fondly called him. Nothing excited him more than nation building.

He devoted his entire life to his country's development and prosperity. At 90, he still had a child-like curiosity about political, geo-political, social and economic developments in India and the world. He was always looking to imbibe ideas from all around on what and what not to do for India's development. He understood profoundly that navigating the treacherous terrain of politics was critical and inevitable to make a meaningful contribution to the nation. But just as he sharply observed in Truss' budget incident, he had an oldfashioned belief about leaders' keeping their promises to people. Virtues of sincerity, integ rity, loyalty and diligence mattered as much to him as free trade and poverty alleviation.