A meeting in flight: How did the India-US-Chile flight trip give Manmohan Singh recognition in Indian politics?

Eminent economist and 13th Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh is no more. He breathed his last on Thursday night at AIIMS Hospital in New Delhi. Dr. Singh started his career as a teacher but later became a politician. His extraordinary knowledge of economics inspired him to serve the country through parliamentary politics.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, who made a significant contribution to the country's economy, started his journey in parliamentary politics in 1991. At that time, he became the finance minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Although he entered parliamentary politics in 1991, his identity in Indian politics was made around 1969. This happened after meeting a special person during a plane journey. Let us know how his ability got him recognition in Indian politics.

Between 1966 and 1969, Dr. Manmohan Singh was working in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). One day, Dr. Singh was traveling from India to America-Chile by flight. His destination was the workplace of UNCTAD. Coincidentally, India's then Foreign Trade Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra was also going to attend a meeting of UNCTAD on the same flight. Minister Mishra and Dr. Singh met and talked on the flight during the journey. On that day minister Mishra understood Dr. Singh's talent.

Shortly after returning from that UNCTAD meeting, Foreign Trade Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra called Dr. Manmohan Singh back to India and appointed him as an advisor in his ministry. This was the beginning of Dr. Singh's introduction to Indian politics.

Later, Dr. Manmohan Singh was appointed by the Government of India to important positions such as Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Member and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Chairman of the University Grants Commission.

In 1991, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao included Dr. Manmohan Singh in the cabinet of the newly elected Congress government and gave him the responsibility of Finance Minister. The incident of becoming the finance minister was also very interesting. Manmohan Singh told British journalist Mark Tully in an interview:

"On the day (Rao) was formulating his cabinet, he sent his Principal Secretary to me saying, "The PM would like you to become the Minister of Finance". I didn't take it seriously. He eventually tracked me down the next morning, rather angry, and demanded that I get dressed up and come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing in. So that's how I started in politics."

As per P.V. Narasimha Rao's instructions, he took oath as a cabinet minister and was given the charge of Finance Minister in the Rao cabinet.

Dr. Manmohan Singh became a minister, but he was not a member of Parliament till then. According to the rules, a minister can be appointed even without being a member of Parliament, but the minister must become a member of one of the Houses of Parliament within six months. So, Dr. Manmohan Singh needed to become a member of one of the Houses of Parliament.

At the same time, a Rajya Sabha seat was vacant in Assam and the process of by-election for that seat began. Dr. Manmohan Singh went to Guwahati from Delhi to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha by-election. At that time, Assam had a government led by Congress Chief Minister Hiteshwar Saikia. Due to this, Dr. Singh easily won this by-election and from 1 October 1991, he became a Rajya Sabha member representing Assam. He remained an MP from Assam in the Rajya Sabha till 2019.

Thus, the famous economist Dr. Manmohan Singh entered Indian parliamentary politics and later he became the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Prime Minister.