Dr Manmohan Singh was one of those rare people who achieved greatness by dint of hard work and merit, and then found grander greatness thrust upon him. He became the Prime Minister, because the then Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, needed someone trustworthy and capable to occupy the position that was rightfully hers as leader of the majority group after the 2004 general elections but she deemed politic to renounce, for assorted reasons. He thus did not have direct authority from the people, but enjoyed delegated authority, granted by the political party that had won the largest number of seats.Also Read: Manmohan Singh passes away at 92; PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and others mourn former PM's demiseAlso Read: Remembering Dr. Manmohan Singh: A legacy of economic reforms and leadershipIt is commonplace for people to describe Manmohan Singh as the author of India's economic reforms. This is naive. Narasimha Rao brought in Singh as his finance minister, true. But reform is a political task, not a technocratic one. Rao might have had some margin for shifting blame to a finance minister, in case reform turned politically too hot to handle, but there was no way he could have escaped responsibility for whatever policies his government pursued. Prime ministers are the authors of large systemic changes, not finance ministers, finance secretaries, economic advisers or anyone else. They are the ones accountable to the people.116692659Singh should properly be recognised as the champion of India's coming out as a global power. This he did by doggedly pursuing the nuclear deal with the US. President George W Bush had clarity that India was the only power in Asia that could possibly countervail a rising China, and wanted to free India from the technology denial regime into which post-nuclear test sanctions had caged India. Within the political class, few understood the significance of the nuclear deal beyond its potential to ease supplies of uranium for nuclear power plants. Singh had clarity that India needed the deal to end technology denial and be free to acquire the strategic capability it needed to emerge a significant power.116692666Within the political class, only the Congress supported the deal. The BJP vehemently opposed the deal. When the Left withdrew support, and the continuance of the government came into question, most Congressmen, too, were willing to abandon the deal. Only Singh defended the deal stoutly. To her credit, Sonia Gandhi chose to back him. Then, the Congress machinery got to work and got the numbers to sail through the vote of no confidence.116692675India became a quasi-member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It joined the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Wassenaar Arrangement on dual technologies and the Australia Group on chemical weapons and precursor chemicals. Large US companies like Boeing felt confident to invest in India and accept Indian companies as partners. Strategic cooperation with the US began, in the wake of the nuclear deal.116692680By having clarity on what was at stake, and choosing to exercise his delegated authority to the hilt, Singh got the nuclear deal through, and opened the door to India's rise as a major power centre.
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