India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh dies at age 92
Dec 26, 2024, 1:58 PM
India's former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives at the Chancellery on April 11, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
(Sean Gallup/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
(CNN) — India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has died at the age of 92, according to a statement from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The hospital said he lost consciousness at home on Thursday and was brought to the AIIMS in New Delhi.
“He was being treated for age-related medical conditions and had a sudden loss of consciousness at home on 26 December 2024,” AIIMS wrote. “Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to the Medical Emergency at AIIMS.”
But despite the hospital’s efforts, Singh was declared dead at 9:51 p.m. local. (11:21 a.m. ET), it added.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country mourned Singh’s passing and called him one of the country’s “most distinguished leaders.”
“As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives,” Modi wrote on X on Thursday.
Singh served as prime minister for two terms. In 2004, after unexpectedly winning national elections, Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi decided she didn’t want the country’s top job after all.
She instead turned to Singh, who was then known for his role in unleashing a bold wave of economic reforms in the early 90s when he was finance minister.
His government introduced welfare schemes such as a jobs program for the rural poor, according to Reuters. In 2008, Singh struck a landmark deal that allowed peaceful trade in nuclear energy with the United States for the first time in three decades, according to Reuters. The following year, he was guest of honor at then-US President Barack Obama’s first White House state dinner.
By the time his second term was up, Singh’s achievements were being overshadowed by high-profile corruption cases in his administration. Singh was never accused of being corrupt but his image took a hit.
Months before his death, Singh said at a press conference that he did the best he could as prime minister, Reuters reported. “I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media or, for that matter, the opposition parties in parliament,” he said, according to Reuters.
Singh is survived by his wife and three daughters, Reuters reported.
