In the league of extraordinary PMs-India-The Times of India

In the league of extraordinary PMs-India-The Times of India:

"Manmohan Singh understood well the changes in the international trends and the opportunities the post-cold-war world order presented to India. He enabled Indian entrepreneurship to take full advantage of the favourable international trends.

The result was the unprecedented 8% growth rate. His handicap was the political alliance with the Left, still steeped in Stalinist and cold war orthodoxy. This resulted in his reform programme being slowed down.

In the first four years he appears to have opted to keep the government going. However, in the fifth year he faced a choice between sacrificing the opportunity to achieve for India the liberation from technology apartheid and recognition as a legitimate sixth nuclear power, or, a few more months in office without risking a confidence vote. He decided to stake the life of the coalition government.

He succeeded in winning the vote of confidence for his government and timed it well. That timing generated pressures on international community to get India the IAEA safeguards, the NSG waiver and completion of the Indo-US nuclear deal in quick succession.

Manmohan Singh has been reviled by his opponents — that is nothing new in Indian politics. Shastri was called a ‘‘prisoner of indecision’’. Indira Gandhi was called a ‘‘Goongi"