Jan 6, 2025 16:11 IST
Originally published by: Jan 6, 2025 at 16:10 IST
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It was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh whose tenure saw a strong establishment of India as a “rising power” and removed it from the status of regional power. The contributions made by Singh are immense and can be divided into three distinct categories which have allowed India’s rise and recognition of status around the world. The first was the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991. As finance minister in the Narasimha Rao government, he played a major role in moving India’s economy away from the controlled system. These policies allowed India to grow at least 6.5 percent per year and, during his two terms as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014, increased it to more than 8 percent. This steady economic growth has allowed India to emerge as the fifth largest economy in the world today. This achievement would not have been possible without his careful management of the economy as finance minister and prime minister. India’s recognition as a rising power has been a major consequence of hitting this key factor for sustained economic growth.
The second achievement was the occupation of India by the United States which took place during his time and the risks he took to achieve this goal. His policy inspired the nuclear deal he signed with then US President George W Bush. The agreement freed India from what I have cleverly described as “nuclear apartheid,” meaning a series of debilitating sanctions imposed on it for more than three decades by the nuclear-weapon states and their allies. This was an important event as unless the US had recognized India as a dynamic power that is growing in the face of China’s aggressive rise and as a possible counterbalance, India would have remained under the sanctions imposed on it since 1974 and the 1998 nuclear tests. This agreement enabled India to negotiate with other western countries and to be recognized as an open nuclear weapon state with special rights, unlike others that did not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Critics often do not like the strategic vision that Singh has shown in moving forward with this deal, even if it means losing the support of the coalition and the political power itself.
The third area where he played a major role was in the creation of new institutional structures that allowed India to be recognized as a rising power. The most important has been the creation of the BRICS platform with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. The key role played by India and its BRICS partners in resolving the financial crisis of 2008-2009 to save the global economy gives India a huge advantage. In addition to BRICS, he played a major role in the formation of the G20 and several industrialized countries, which led to India having a new institutional role that it did not have before. The creation of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) in 2007 took place under his visionary leadership alongside former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. This soft balancing platform improved India’s previously estranged relations with Japan and Australia and brought a new appreciation for it in the Indo-Pacific as a key swing power.
Significantly, he brought dignity and diplomacy to the highest level. Personally, I saw this in my interview with him in February 2000 when he discussed various issues related to the growth of India in a transparent manner. He assured me that most of his effort was to bring India to its rightful place on the international record, and he did so with tact, integrity and political acumen even in the face of strong domestic opposition.
Finally, Singh was a very humble and wise leader with whom people felt comfortable interacting. In February 2020, he responded to my interview request using his personal email and was available when I visited Delhi for a long meeting. Despite their political differences, the current Indian establishment should recognize his contribution accordingly, especially, in bringing India to the forefront of the international system as a rising power and give hope for its rise as a legitimate great power in the 21st century. Many of his policies are followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has really benefited from the foundations laid by Singh.
The author is the James McGill Distinguished Professor in the department of political science at McGill University, Montreal, and the author of a new book: The Unfinished Quest: India’s Search for Superpower Status from Nehru to Modi (Westland-Context, 2024)
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