Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], December 27 (ANI): Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Friday mourned the death of Manmohan Singh and said that the former prime minister will be remembered as a person of "great compassion and wisdom."
"He will be remembered as a person of great compassion, great wisdom, and a person who has made an enormous contribution to modern India," Khurshid said.
Former Lok Sabha speaker and Congress leader Meira Kumar said, "He was a very sensitive man...He had a lot of potential to take the nation forward."
Himachal Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said that the economic reforms are largely due to Manmohan Singh.
"Manmohan Singh also helped in resolving the economic crisis in America... Umbrella programs in today's times, be it Digital India, National Health Mission, bullet trains, smart cities, etc were initiated during Dr Manmohan Singh's tenure... I pray that his family gets the strength to bear this loss," Kuldeep Singh Pathania said.
Congress MLA, Kewal Singh Pathania said that Manmohan Singh contributed greatly to the country, especially in the field of education.
"Dr Manmohan Singh contributed greatly to the country, especially in the field of education... ESI hospital, IIT, Central University, All India Medical Institute, IIM were the biggest gifts to the people of Himachal Pradesh during his tenure as Prime Minister... 70 lakh Himachalis are also grieving his demise... He was a statesman and today he is known as the economist and I pay humble tributes to him," Kewal Singh Pathania said.
Manmohan Singh passed away at AIIMS, Delhi, on Thursday night at the age of 92 due to age-related medical conditions. He had a sudden loss of consciousness at home after which he was rushed to the AIIMS Delhi.
Manmohan Singh was born on September 26, 1932. Apart from being an economist, Manmohan Singh served as Reserve Bank of India governor from 1982-1985. He was the 13th PM of India with his tenure from 2004-2014.
He spent five years between 1991 and 1996 as India's Finance Minister and his role in ushering in a comprehensive policy of economic reforms is recognized worldwide. In the popular view of those years in India, that period is inextricably associated with the persona of Singh.
Manmohan Singh's government also introduced the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which later came to be known as MGNREGA.
The Right to Information Act (RTI) was passed in 2005 under the Manmohan Singh government, which made the transparency of information between the government and the public better.
He retired from the Rajya Sabha earlier this year after serving for 33 years. (ANI)
