India declares 7 days of mourning, state funeral for Manmohan Singh

Tributes pour in for ex-PM, who was the key architect of nation's economic reforms

- Debarshi Dasgupta

NEW DELHI - India on Dec 27 announced seven days of state mourning till Jan 1 for former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who died in Delhi on Dec 26, aged 92.

He will be accorded a state funeral in Delhi on Dec 28.

Tributes have poured in for Dr Singh, who is acknowledged as the key architect of economic reforms which opened up India's economy in the 1990s and steered it out of a crippling balance of payments crisis.

India's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that Dr Singh had left "a strong imprint on our economic policy" and "made extensive efforts to improve people's lives".

Leader of the Opposition and member of Dr Singh's Congress party Rahul Gandhi likewise paid homage to him, saying that Dr Singh's "humility and deep understanding of economics inspired the nation". "I have lost a mentor and guide," he added on X.

His mother, Ms Sonia Gandhi, also a Member of Parliament and former Congress president, said Dr Singh's death was a "deeply personal loss" and described him as a "friend, philosopher and guide".

Dr Singh was admitted to a Delhi hospital after he lost consciousness at his home on Dec 26. He leaves his wife, Ms Gursharan Kaur, a historian, and their three daughters.

The first person from India's minority Sikh faith to hold the prime minister's office, Dr Singh served as India's prime minister from 2004 to 2014, a decade which saw millions lifted out of poverty and India's global stature rising.

He was the first Indian leader since Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister, to be re-elected as prime minister after having served a full first five-year term. His victory, which came in 2009, was widely credited to his deft handling of the economy, which shielded India from the 2008 global economic crisis.