Revanth urges Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on Manmohan Singh

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy urged the Central government to confer Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister late Manmohan Singh and establish a knowledge centre in his name in Delhi in recognition of his immense contribution to modern India.

“Some decisions have to be taken above political considerations,” he said, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the initiative while stating that the Telangana MPs would raise the issue in Parliament. He said Mr. Singh had taken the country’s economy to new heights with “silent determination” and expressed disappointment that the Union government had not taken steps to establish a lasting memorial to him in Delhi.

Mr. Reddy was speaking after unveiling the statue of Manmohan Singh at Wipro Circle in Hyderabad’s Financial District. He said the late Prime Minister’s contribution to the country’s economic transformation and the creation of Telangana would be remembered by future generations.

Mr. Revanth Reddy also credited Mr. Singh and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi with fulfilling the decades-old demand for a separate Telangana State. A replica of Mr. Singh’s signature on the legislation for the creation of Telangana was displayed at the venue.

Describing Mr. Singh as a “pride of the nation”, Mr. Revanth Reddy said the statue was installed in the Financial District to commemorate his contribution to the Indian economy. Several institutions that play a key role in the country’s financial system were operating from the area, he said.

The Chief Minister recalled Mr. Singh’s role as Reserve Bank of India Governor and Union Finance Minister in the P. V. Narasimha Rao government and said he had helped the country recover from the economic crisis in 1991. The liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies initiated during that period had transformed the Indian economy, he said.

He also cited the Right to Education Act, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the 2013 Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act as important measures introduced during Mr. Singh’s regime. The rehabilitation law, he said, provided compensation rights even to landless poor affected by land acquisition.

Former Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and former Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy shared their association with Mr Singh as Prime Minister when they were judges. They recalled his simplicity and modest financial conditions despite being the Prime Minister.

Former economic adviser Mohan Guruswamy, Ministers D. Sridhar Babu and Adluri Lakshman Kumar, MPs Vem Narender Reddy and Anil Kumar Yadav, MLAs Arekapudi Gandhi and Naveen Yadav, MLC Kuchukulla Damodar Reddy and senior officials attended the programme.