Colleagues recall encounters with Manmohan

Renowned economists, top diplomats, former colleagues and friends of the late PM, Manmohan Singh, offered riveting insights into his personality and career at an event organised by his family on Saturday in the national capital to celebrate the leader's life.

- Zia Haq

NEW DELHI:

Speaker after speaker described Singh as one of India's greatest prime ministers, and yet a humble man. Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, who was a key negotiator of the landmark India-US civil nuclear agreement, recalled how and why Singh went for the deal, even putting his premiership on the line. "The Indo-US nuclear deal was his gift to the nation. In November 2004, I came back from a visit to Washington as foreign secretary with a US proposal to negotiate a civil nuclear cooperation with India, which would de facto acknowledge India as a nuclear power."

"The PM's initial reaction was one of caution. He asked, 'what would India have to give in return and what it would do for India?' I said the negotiations would be difficult but it would result in the dismantling of all the technology-denial regimes, which had kept India hemmed in for decades."