Manmohan Singh resigns

NEW DELHI, May 17:
After 10 years of eventful rule, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today bowed out of office, insisting that he had tried to do his best in serving the country and his tenure was an “open book”.
Singh bid adieu as Prime Minister of two terms in a televised address where he said the judgement delivered by the people in the elections should be respected by all and wished the incoming Government every success.
The 81-year-old economist, credited with playing a key role in ushering in economic reforms in the 1990s, leaves a mixed legacy of achievements and failures during his tenure.
He drove to the Rasthrapati Bhavan from his official residence 7, Race Course Road, to submit the resignation of his Council of Ministers to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Mukherjee accepted the resignation and requested him and his colleagues to continue till the new Fovernment is formed.
Earlier this morning, the Cabinet met and recommended dissolution of the Lok Sabha. The Cabinet adopted a resolution lauding the role of Singh.
Looking back, he said India saw many successes and achievements “that we should be proud of” and the country has become far stronger in last one decade. But it still has vast latent development potential.
Singh, the first Sikh Prime Minister, was the surprise choice for the top post when his name was suddenly proposed by Congress President Sonia in 2004 when the party-led coalition UPA was in a position to form Government.
“I address you today for the last time as Prime Minister of India. Ten years ago, when I was entrusted with this responsibility, I entered upon it with diligence as my tool, truth as my beacon and a prayer that I might always do the right thing,” Singh said in his brief address to the nation.
“Today, as I prepare to lay down office, I am aware that well before the final judgment that we all await from the Almighty, there is judgment in the court of public opinion that all elected officials and Governments are required to submit themselves to.
“Fellow citizens, each one of us should respect the judgement that you have delivered. The just concluded elections have deepened the foundations of our democratic polity,” Singh said.
Singh, who had achieved the distinction of serving as Prime Minister for the longest consecutive tenure after Jawaharlal Nehru’s 17 years in office, chose the occasion to refer to his humble origin as “an underprivileged child of Partition”.
“…This great land of ours where I, an underprivileged child of Partition, was empowered enough to rise and occupy high office. It is both a debt that I will never be able to repay and a decoration that I will always wear with pride…
“As I leave office, my abiding memory will be the love and kindness that I have always received from you,” he said.
Singh, whose second tenure between 2009 and 2014 saw the Government battling various corruption scandals, insisted, “As I have said on many occasions, my life and tenure in public office are an open book. I have always tried to do my best in serving this great nation of ours.”
He addeed “In the last 10 years, we as a country have seen many successes and achievements that we should be proud of. Today, India is a far stronger country in every respect than it was a decade ago. I give credit for these successes to all of you. However, there is still vast latent development potential in our country and we must collectively work hard to realize it.”
Asserting that he is confident about the future of India, the outgoing Prime Minister said, “I firmly believe that the emergence of India as a major powerhouse of the evolving global economy is an idea whose time has come. Blending tradition with modernity and unity with diversity, this nation of ours can show the way forward to the world.”
Noting that serving this nation has been his privilege and there is nothing more that he could ask for, he said, “ “I wish the incoming Government every success as it embarks on its task and pray for even greater successes for our nation.
When Singh met Mukherjee to submit resignation and recommendation for dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the two exchanged bouquets.
After their brief meeting, Mukherjee, who had worked in Singh’s Cabinet as Finance, Defence and External Affairs Minister, showed the courtesy of coming to the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to see off the Prime Minister.
They shook hands for sometime and were seen in an intimate conversation. Singh then also took leave of the Rashtrapati Bhavan officials, including the President’s Secretary Omita Paul.
Born on September 26, 1932 in Gah village of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Singh held several key positions like Economic Adviser to the Government and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission before being catapulted to the position of the Prime Minister in 2004.
A celebrated economist, Singh had entered politics at the height of the 1991 economic crisis when late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao inducted him into the government as Finance Minister.
His role, along with Rao, in lifting the economy out of the balance of payments crisis and bringing about economic reforms has been one of the main highlights of his career.
Meanwhile, Union Cabinet today recommended dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, drawing curtains to the term of the House which will go down in history as the most disrupted and wasted in Independent India.
The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, met for the last time and decided to recommend dissolution of the current term of the Lok Sabha, a day after the results of the 16th Lok Sabha were out.
The recommendation was then handed over to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath later said the process to form the next Lok Sabha will commence after the Election Commission sends the notification of the newly-elected members.
“Once the President receives the list from the Election Commission, the President will take an appropriate decision,” he said.
The outgoing term of the House was the most disrupted and wasted in Independent India, with pepper spray incident in the last session marking a new low in parliamentary conduct.
Disruptions have been the order of the day and two years back an entire session was washed out after opposition BJP insisted on its demand for Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam. This was unprecedented.
There was also uproar galore on the demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation scam.
Storm over Telangana led to several unprecedented developments in the last session of the House which had 13 sittings. Even though Speaker Meira Kumar wanted a “grand finale” to the Lok Sabha it was not to be.
As many as 16 members from Seemandhra region were suspended ahead of the passage of Telangana bill. The bill to divide Andhra Pradesh tested the patience of the House, unlike any other issue in recent times. Supporters and opponents of separate Telangana were at loggerheads on the bill at the drop of a hat.
The historic bill creating the 29th State of India was passed in the last week of the last session of the Lok Sabha but after much controversies, confusion and commotion.
The 15th Lok Sabha had also seen immediate disqualification of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma after their conviction in the fodder scam.
Theirs was the first disqualification from the Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.
The 15th Lok Sabha also witnessed three women adorning top posts. The head of the ruling dispensation Sonia Gandhi, Speaker Meira Kumar and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj. While Gandhi and Swaraj succeded in returning to the 16th Lok Sabha, Kumar was defeated in her traditional seat of Sasaram.
Even though scams and scandals, including the Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Housing, led to disruptions, the House also created history by legislating landmark laws.
The Food Security bill, which seeks to provide cheap foodgrains to 67 per cent of the poor people of the country-some 80 crore people, was cleared during the tenure of the outgoing Lok Sabha.
The Land Acquisition bill, which will give a better price to the farmer for his land and also a say in the matter, was also adopted by the House.
Amid a campaign against corruption, the House also adopted the Lokpal bill, an issue which had been pending for the last four decades. The Women’s Reservation bill, however, could not pass muster of the House despite being through the Rajya Sabha by the use of marshals. (PTI)

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