AFP via Getty ImagesIndia held a state funeral for one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, in Delhi.
Singh led India 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 Saturday’s event. He called Singh one of America’s “most outstanding leaders.”
Mourners came out across the capital to pay their respects as Singh’s coffin, accompanied by an honor guard, was taken through the city to the crematorium.
His elder daughter lit the funeral pyre at the crematorium in front of Modi, President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and senior members of the Congress party Singh.
Foreign dignitaries including Bhutanese King Jigme Kesar Namgyel Wangchuk and Mauritian Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful also attended.
Singh received full state honors in a ceremony that included a 21-gun salute.
After his death on Thursday night, the government declared seven days of national mourning.
Expressing his condolences soon after his death, Prime Minister Modi said that Singh’s “wisdom and humility were always noticeable during our conversations” and that as prime minister he “made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.”
Opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who also attended the funeral, said he had lost a “mentor and guide”.
Amid foreign tributes, US President Joe Biden said the ‘unprecedented level of cooperation’ with India would not have been possible without Prime Minister Singh’s ‘strategic vision and political courage’.
“He was a true statesman, a dedicated public servant, and above all, a kind and humble man,” Biden said in a statement.
AFP via Getty ImagesPrime Minister Singh transformed India’s economic growth trajectory during his tenure as 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 strengthen economic reform measures, lifting millions out of poverty and contributing to India’s emergence as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies.
Singh, the first Sikh to hold India’s highest office, formally apologized in 2005 for the 1984 riots in which about 3,000 Sikhs were killed.
He was also the first Indian leader to be re-elected to a full term since Jawaharlal Nehru, who led India from 1947 until his death in 1964.
However, Singh’s second term was marred by a series of corruption allegations.
Many say the scandal was partly responsible for his Congress party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 general elections.
