PM Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh overtook Atal Bihari Vajpayee to become the third longest serving Prime Minister of India — after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi — clocking 2,273 days in office on Wednesday. For a man who took over the country’s top job only because of an act of renunciation by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, it’s been nothing short of a heady ride. Manmohan was probably most surprised when Sonia Gandhi chose him to lead the government. It started the reign of a strange twosome at the top. Manmohan turned out to be a man of strong ideas, and, more important, determination. His soft-spokenness, attitude of detached interest, economist’s lingo and a marked inability to do the kind of flesh-pressing politics that is the hallmark of Indian politicians set him apart. Political analysts in those days wrote him off as an intelligent man of integrity, but “you know, he’s not a politician”. He did not contest it. In fact, he was fond of saying how he was an “accidental” PM. He treated his job as if life had given him an unexpected opportunity to steer the fortunes of this nation — for the second time. Returning from Washington in July 2005, after signing the nuclear deal with George Bush, Manmohan told some journalists, “What the economic reforms did for the Indian economy, I think the nuclear deal will do for India’s energy and strategic future.” It was this belief that made him ram through the difficult deal, manoeuvring political minefields. By May 2009, the world was in its worst economic crisis. Manmohan seemed to be the only person who knew what was going on. The Indian economy was doing fine, had weathered the crisis with some deft handling by Manmohan. He was a safe pair of hands. As the UPA went into elections, Manmohan was no longer an “accidental” leader, but one with a strong sense that he deserved his post. He steered the election debate into a presidential contest — between the efficient Manmohan and an “intemperate” L K Advani. He won.