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But Singh did not escape unscathed from Tuesday's closely fought confidence vote, with a bribery scandal threatening his squeaky clean image.
He admitted he was ‘extremely sad’ after Opposition MPs accused his government of bribing them to abstain.
"He was challenged, he was abused, all sorts of things were said, but he has come out victorious," said B G Verghese, author and commentator. "It is a great moral, political victory."
Manmohan Singh's reputation was forged in his time as Finance Minister in the 1990s, when he pushed through a series of economic reforms which set the stage for India's subsequent boom and entry onto the world stage as a rising economic power.
But he seemed an unlikely choice for Prime Minister, thrust into the limelight only because Sonia Gandhi turned down the top job after winning elections in 2004.
Time and again, Manmohan Singh seemed dwarfed by Sonia Gandhi and ill-suited to the rough and tumble of Indian politics. He seemed to reach a nadir in 2007 when his Left allies forced him to back down over the nuclear deal.
Manmohan Singh had staked much of his prestige on the deal, shaking hands with US President George W Bush on first announcing it at the White House in 2005.
He was visibly crestfallen when forced to back down in 2007, as his Cabinet colleagues were not prepared to face early elections.
But Manmohan Singh, 75, appeared to find a second wind, and finally ended up getting the Congress party on-side. The government pushed ahead with the deal, and the Leftists withdrew, paving the way for Tuesday's vote.
He is India's first PM to hold a doctorate, famous for his spartan lifestyle and bookish manner.
Grey-bearded and bespectacled, Singh dresses in homespun white long tunic-pyjamas and a trademark sky-blue turban. Lunch and dinner are two rotis -- a flat Indian bread -- and lentils.
Born into a poor Sikh family in Pakistan, Manmohan Singh won scholarships to Cambridge and Oxford, earning a doctorate with a thesis on the critical role of exports and free trade in India's economy.
But he has never won an election and sits in the mostly nominated Upper House of Parliament.
Critics say his career, including as UN civil servant and government bureaucrat, underline a life where advancement has carried more weight than pursuing strong political ideals.
People who have known and worked with Singh for more than a decade describe him as a quiet, hardworking man and a deep thinker who shuns the perks and corruption that many Indian politicians thrive on.
"He's very honest, sincere and hardworking, the kind you will hardly find now," said D H Pai Panandikar, the head of a private economic think-tank and Manmohan Singh's Cambridge classmate.
"He cannot dominate and say something loudly like 'get this done'. He's not tough-talking. It's a handicap."
Manmohan Singh doesn't deny he is a politician by accident.
"The greatness of democracy is that we are all birds of passage," he said in his concluding speech during the debate on the confidence vote.
"We are here today, gone tomorrow. But in the brief time that the people entrust us with this responsibility it is our duty to be honest and sincere in the discharge of these responsibilities."
Since coming to the job in 2004, Manmohan Singh has worked 14-hour days, devouring files and coming to grips with the complexities of running a hugely diverse country of one billion people.
Yet for all of Manmohan Singh's hard work, analysts say the government, elected on a ticket of spreading benefits of rapid growth to the millions of rural and urban poor, still appears to be finding its way.
Pls dont try to ptray manmohan Singh as an honest, poor victim. He was smiling all along with a wolfish grin, as the scum knew that the pimps in his party/SP bought MP's. Come next election the maino's, mulayams, mayawatis , lalus will be thrown out. Bacially India needs a leader of the caliber of Narnedra Modi to forge up our nation into steel especially under the threat os islamic facism
Nonsense. If the opposition can use all the dirty tricks to defeat the ruling party, so can the ruling party use dirty tricks. What is the option you have? Use honesty and get mud on your face? If the other pair of thugs had won, we would have no nuclear deal, a fresh, useless election and economic depression. Atleast this pair of thugs has ensured these things. If they had lost, another set of 'critics' would be at their throats, asking them why they were fooling the world on the nuclear deal.Basically everyone in this country (including me) is a bogus piece of garbage. We have got the government we deserve. Each one of us can be as corrupt, callous and cruel as the opportunity demands. We have see thousands of, generations of politicians, and they are scumbags. That means we are scumbags! So please leave aside this hollow show of outrage as the most corrupt people on earth. No politician gives a damn about the 1.3 billion rats in this country, and rightly so.
PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE THAT MANMOHAN IS WORKING FOR THE COUNTRY WITHOUT ANY PAY. HE IS LIKE SHASTRI JI BUT PEOPLE WOULD REALIZE LATER.
Manmohan is owrking witout pay from Indian Govt YES AGREED. but he gets enough funds from his sources in World Bank etc. He is even more sinister
has manmohan snooped on advani to know that he met an astroler thrice.
has manmohan snooped on advani to know that he met an astroler thrice. to refer to babri masjid and gujarat now is pure rubbish. manmohan didnt talk about 'gujarat' in the gujarat elections.a man who hasnt won a single direct election in his life. who has not spent more than a day in assam from where he is a MP of parliament.manmohan singh: man of integrity; silent when charges are dropped against arunachal govsingh, in airbus bribery scandal. when quattrochi's money is let go by deciet, when quattrochi is allowed to flee from argntina, when his cabinet minister admits using his influence to help his sons firm.this pm who was gloriously silent during every act of immorality, illegality by those who put him in his current place,suddenly finds his voice for a farcical deal, which by his own admissn was continuation of bjp's dialog with usa. the sardar of a notetantra cabal, which displayed nothing but brazeness in its a disregard for decency,probity and democractic values
we are so happy to have a great intellectual who had a vision and the best scholar as a PM.the opposition party critisized him as the weakest PM.but we can say that he is the strongest,determined PM.he did not care about the primeministership.he was the best PM india ever has produced till now.
My fellow countrymen who have thrown barbs at our PM are either naive or do understand the way Politics in this "corrupt" country of ours works. No matter how much our PM may have wanted to stop the horse trading, many would have had none of it. You simply had to look atthe PM's face in the Parliament and you could guess that he was a man out of place. He, in my opinion is the most sincere, dedicated and an honest PM with integrity of the highest order. The same people who curse him today, will garland him tomorrow to have shown the guts and gone ahead with the N-deal. Way to go PM. I' am proud of you as an individual (not the Congress)
Hitler in 1932 was potrayed as a great stateman also. he too never lived an extravagant life. We dont know what is in Manmohans mind, he is a dangerous man, who was allied with the world bank, whose sole agenda is to subvert governments in 3rd world coutnries to serve the banks purposes. Watch out for him!
Can u see his cabinet lalu yadav 1500 crore fodder scam taking help from dalla mulayam singh amar singh, murderer shibu soren.MPs being bought for crores he is the leader of the group who has further corrupted the institution of democracy just to stay in power.Nuclear deal is just a excuse Why this and other idiots from the combine are not talking about rising prices.IT IS A SHAMEFUL DAY FOR SHAMELESS BHARWA UPA COMBINE
Honest and sincere ? maybe time will tell. But failed to carry the opposition along if not the Left with the documents that would liberate India or shackle unless played very carefully. Challenged ? Yes, that is part of democracy. Yet one can not see when and where he was 'abused'.
didn't the commies abuse him or the government? they wanted a veto for every movement. report to the commies before and after . get their approval. don't talk to anyone without discussing or getting approval and this went on for years. the public understood but the commies didn't. they went to each meeting with eyes and ears closed. what can be the outcome of such meetings? this is just about the nuclear deal. wasn't that abuse since the commies knew the government is depended on their support.
All said in this article are lies. He lost is honesty and integrity when repeatedly his actions has shown he is in favour of muslims and does not have the heart or to even talk about terrorism, let alone acting on it. In turn his govt is protecting afzal who attacked parliament. What mms did during mumbai, delhi, hbad and varanasi blasts. Inspite of this he wants muslims to use first use of resource. Indeed muslims are having first use of resource, but terrorism. Murderers like soren, shahabudding are life line of congress. Main qualification to join congress party is either to be a fanatic muslim or a murderer liks soren or a criminal or an anti Indian or a chamcha of fake gandhis. Being loyal to India is a great disqualification to be in congress party. Criminals, murderers, anti Indians, terrorists supporters, chamchas of fake gandhis can be found in congress. Congress politicians in 1950s would be ashamed that they belonged to a party called cong, which now is haven for criminals
I strongly disagree that Manmohan is honest and is morale. Ever since he cameto the political arena, especially after been adorned the crown o PM, Manmohan has lost all his honesty. See the way, the trust vote was handled. Don't say that PM does not know about the bribes (either for favours or for money) for switching loyalty in the vote excercise. A staunch enemy is taken as friend just for surevivial and that is immoral for the stature of Manmohan. I donot know why our learned masters succumm to the political im-morality?. Manmohan is no different from Deva Gowda or VP Singh or Charan Singh or Narasimha Rao. All are anti-nationalist and that will be the best words to describe Manmohan
Look it wasnt the PM who ordered anar singh to bribe these MPs. secondly when Mayawati and the opposition were so brazenly effecting defections with obvious financial rewards do u expect the ruling party to keep quiet and do things honestly. You cant clap with only one hand!If the opposition hadnt tried to effect defections it wouldnt have come to this.
Look it wasnt the PM who ordered anar singh to bribe these MPs. secondly when Mayawati and the opposition were so brazenly effecting defections with obvious financial rewards do u expect the ruling party to keep quiet and do things honestly. You cant clap with only one hand!If the opposition hadnt tried to effect defections it wouldnt have come to this.
thats bullocks my friend, manmohan 1005 knew bribing mp's n like a power hungry beast he did not stop it. His body laguage during the entire episode is proof of that. Notice his wolfish grin all along
Hi there, if foes were made freinds, it was for national interest and not survival. If govt only wanted survival, they could have pushed back the N-deal.Understand this.
Congress has played a brilliant stroke in order to hid etheir short comings and their minority ars@ licking. They had struck the deal with SP 4 months ago b4 seriously challenging the left. The moron commies played into their hands and have now gotten themselves into a mess
I am not sure no body is worried about how he won this trust vote. i am sure it is like winning is more improtant than anything else. then JO JITA VO SINDAR in Indian Politics. this is just that. pl do not add any additional decorative words to this win
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