Manmohan Singh’s Enduring Connection with Amritsar Remembered Fondly by Locals

Amritsar: It has been a long time since Manmohan Singh lived in Amritsar. His family house is now dilapidated and empty, with memories fading, yet the bond with the former prime minister remains fondly remembered.

Born in 1932 in Gah, Punjab (now in Pakistan's Chakwal district), Manmohan Singh's family moved to Amritsar in 1948, following a brief stay in Haldwani after Partition.

Singh completed his intermediate and undergraduate studies in economics at Hindu College in Amritsar before relocating to the Hoshiarpur campus of Panjab University for his higher education.

Singh's half-brother from his father's extended family, Surjit Singh Kohli, who ran a readymade garment business in Amritsar, said the former prime minister had deep affection for his grandmother who raised him following his mother's death when he was very young.

"Manmohan Singh shared a deep attachment with Amritsar. He used to visit the Golden Temple every time he came to the holy city," Surjit Kohli said.

After migrating, the Singh family settled at a small rented house in Amritsar till he graduated.

Stating that economics was his favourite subject, retired professor of Hindu College, Rajinder Loomba, recalled that his wife Gursharan Kaur's parents also belonged to the holy city.

A few years ago, Singh attended the convocation-cum-alumni meet of Hindu College as the chief guest and interacted with the college staff like an ordinary person, reminiscing old memories, Loomba said.

Singh talked about the teachers who taught him at the college besides interacting and clicking photographs with the students and faculty members, he recalled.

Raj Kumar (71), a local resident, told news agency that Singh used to live in Petha Wala Bazaar near the Golden Temple.

Recalling Singh as a very humble person, Kumar said, "Dr Singh used to live here. I was a child when his family shifted out. It was a very nice family." The house where the Singh family lived is in a dilapidated state now as no one stays there since they moved out a long time ago, Kumar said.

Some other locals recalled Manmohan Singh as a man who always took special pain for Amritsar, saying the UPA government headed by him got several projects sanctioned for the holy city.

Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, passed away on Thursday night at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 92.

The Congress leader, who steered the country for 10 years from 2004-2014 and helped set up the country's economic framework as finance minister before that, was a renowned name in the global financial and economic sectors.

(with agency inputs)