NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh marks his 80th birthday today in fighting fashion with signs he has rediscovered his “mojo” as a reformer after being written off as a dithering under-achiever.
The soft-spoken Singh is widely expected to stand down at the next elections due to be held in 2014.
While he earned a place in the history books as the man who lit the fuse for India’s rapid growth in the 1990s when he was finance minister, his reputation has taken a battering as premier — especially since his 2009 re-election.
But a sudden blitz of reforms designed to revive an economy in which growth is stuck around three-year lows has also given his own image a shot in the arm with the Economic Times proclaiming he had got his “mojo back”.
And his stock has also risen sharply with the business sector, which warmly applauded his moves to open the retail, aviation and broadcasting sectors to more foreign investment.
According to Adi Godrej, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, the premier has “unambiguously sent a message that the government is determined to see through the reforms”.
A workaholic, the prime minister has shied away from celebrations on his birthday but there have been occasions when he has cut a cake on board his special aircraft during foreign trips.
The prime minister will today give away the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) awards on the organisation’s 70th Foundation Day function. The prime minister is the president of CSIR, whose foundation day coincides with his birthday.
“He will work as usual (on his birthday),” an official said.
Though some political leaders are expected to call on the prime minister to greet him, the celebrations will be a low key affair, the official said.
Agencies
