Indian state funeral for former PM Manmohan Singh
    
NEW DELHI, Dec 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - India on Saturday accorded former premier 
Manmohan Singh, one of the architects of the country's economic 
liberalisation in the early 1990s, a state funeral with full military 
honours, complete with a gun salute.

Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, died at the age of 92 on Thursday, 
after which seven days of state mourning were declared.

The honours were led by President Draupadi Murmu with Prime Minister Narendra 
Modi in attendance, along with the country's top civilian and military 
officials. Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck also attended the 
ceremony.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who called the former prime minister his 
mentor and guide, joined Singh's family as they prayed before his cremation.

Earlier, mourners gathered to pay their respects to Singh. His coffin, draped 
in garlands of flowers, was flanked by a guard of honour and carried to his 
Congress Party headquarters in New Delhi.

It was then taken through the capital to the cremation grounds, accompanied 
by guards of soldiers and accorded full state honours.

Modi called Singh one of India's "most distinguished leaders".

US President Joe Biden called Singh a "true statesman", saying that he 
"charted pathbreaking progress that will continue to strengthen our nations -
- and the world -- for generations to come".

The former prime minister was an understated technocrat who was hailed for 
overseeing an economic boom in his first term.

Singh's second stint ended with a series of major corruption scandals, 
slowing growth and high inflation.

Singh's unpopularity in his second term, and lacklustre leadership by Nehru-
Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi, the current opposition leader in the lower house, 
led to Modi's first landslide victory in 2014.

- 'Service to the nation' -

Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan and was 
then British-ruled India, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate 
poverty in the vast nation.

He won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in 
economics, and Oxford, where he completed his doctorate.

Singh worked in a string of senior civil service posts, served as a central 
bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies including the 
United Nations.

He was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to 
serve as finance minister and reel India back from the worst financial crisis 
in its modern history.

Though he had never held an elected post, he was declared the National 
Congress's candidate for the highest office in 2004.

In his first term, Singh steered the economy through a period of nine percent 
growth, lending India the international clout it had long sought.

He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the United States that he said 
would help India meet its growing energy needs.

President Murmu said Singh would "always be remembered for his service to the 
nation, his unblemished political life and his utmost humility".