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AFP via Getty ImagesIndia paid one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, a state funeral in Delhi.
Singh led the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India’s economic liberalization. He died on Thursday at the age of 92.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the ceremony on Saturday. He called Singh one of the country’s “most outstanding leaders”.
Mourners gathered across the capital to pay their respects as Singh’s coffin, accompanied by a guard of honour, was carried through the city to the cremation ground.
His elder daughter lit his funeral pyre at the crematorium in front of Modi, President Draupadi Murma, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and senior members of Singh’s Congress Party.
Foreign dignitaries such as King Jigme Hesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius Dhananjay Ramphool were also present.
Singh received all state honors in a ceremony that included a 21-gun salute.
Following his death on Thursday night, the government declared seven days of national mourning.
Paying tribute soon after his death, Modi said Singh’s “wisdom and humility” were always evident during their interactions and that he had “put in a lot of effort to improve people’s lives” as prime minister.
Opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who also attended the funeral, said he had lost a “teacher and guide”.
Among foreign honors, US President Joe Biden said his country’s “unprecedented level of cooperation” with India would not have been possible without Singh’s “strategic vision and political courage”.
“He was a real statesman. Dedicated civil servants. And above all, he was a kind and humble man,” Biden said in a statement.
AFP via Getty ImagesSingh changed the trajectory of India’s economic growth during his tenure as the country’s prime minister and finance minister in 1991.
He is remembered for saying in his first budget speech: “No power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”
As prime minister, he continued to build on his economic reform measures, lifting millions of people from poverty and helping India grow as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies.
The first Sikh to hold India’s highest office, Singh formally apologized in 2005 for the 1984 riots that killed around 3,000 Sikhs.
He was also the first Indian leader since Jawaharlal Nehru, who ruled the country from 1947 until his death in 1964, to be re-elected after serving his full first term.
However, Singh’s second term in office was marred by a series of corruption allegations.
Many say these scandals were responsible for the crushing defeat of his Congress party in the 2014 general elections.
