Former India PM mourned in state funeral

India has mourned one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, with a state funeral in Delhi.

Singh led the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India’s economic liberalisation. He died on Thursday aged 92.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the ceremony on Saturday. He has called Singh one of the country’s “most distinguished leaders”.

Mourners turned out across the capital to pay their respects as Singh’s coffin, flanked by an honour guard, was taken through the city to the cremation grounds.

His eldest daughter lit his funeral pyre at the crematorium in front of Modi, President Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and senior members of Singh’s Congress Party.

Foreign dignitaries such as the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Mauritius Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful were also in attendance.

Singh received full state honours 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 shortly after his death, Modi said Singh’s “wisdom and humility were always visible” during their interactions and that he had “made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives” as prime minister.

Opposition congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was also present at the funeral, said he had lost “a mentor and a guide”.

Among foreign tributes, 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 true statesman. A dedicated public servant. And above all, he was a kind and humble person”, Biden said in a statement.

Singh changed India’s economic growth trajectory during his time as prime minister and as the country’s 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”.

He continued to build on his economic reform measures as prime minister, lifting millions out of poverty and contributing to India’s rise as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies.

The first Sikh to hold India’s top post, Singh formally apologised in 2005 for the 1984 riots in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed.

He was also the first Indian leader after Jawaharlal Nehru, who led the country from 1947 until his death in 1964, to be re-elected after serving a full first term.

Singh’s second term in office, however, was marred by a string of corruption allegations.

The scandals, many say, were partially responsible for his Congress party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 general election.