NEW DELHI -Manmohan Singh, whose humble origins inspired him to start the reforms that opened up India's economy, was named prime minister yesterday, ending weeks of turmoil that culminated with Sonia Gandhi's refusal to take the post.
Singh, the first Sikh prime minister in the mainly Hindu nation's post-colonial history, said he was accepting the position even though voters signaled they wanted Gandhi.
The mandate of the people of India was to make Sonia Gandhi the prime minister
the softspoken Singh said as photographers screamed for him to display his letter of appointment from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam outside the ornate, sandstone presidential palace.
Kalam appointed the 71-year-old Singh to form a government with a minority of the 545 seats in Parliament's lower house, after receiving letters of support from communists and socialists.
Singh, an Oxford-educated economist, emphasized the importance of a healthy capital market, creation of jobs and social development, as he tried to calm investors who have been jittery since the likely makeup of the government became clear. The markets soared at the news that Singh was to take the helm.
A senior Congress party leader said Singh would be sworn in today or Saturday. Friday, he said, is an auspicious date on the Hindu calendar, but also the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Sonia Gandhi's husband, Rajiv.
The Italian-born Gandhi, 57, accompanied Singh to the palace, relaxed and smiling for the first time in six days.
A final decision has been taken she said, standing by Singh in a cream-colored sari. I have been under tremendous pressure from my colleagues my party workers and many
many people throughout the country.
She had stunned the nation of one billion people by declining its highest elected position after leading her Congress party and allies to an upset victory over the Hindu nationalist-led government of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
She resisted anguished protests outside her home and across the country by supporters pleading for her to change her mind as they burned opposition leaders in effigy, staged sit-ins and marched chanting through the streets.
Gandhi, who won a Parliament seat in the April 20-May 10 elections retains control of the Congress party as its president. Singh called her my leader.
A slight, bearded man who wears his white hair under a baby-blue Sikh turban, Singh remembered his impoverished childhood and promised to create new opportunities for the poor and the downtrodden.
I was born in a poor family and supported my own education ... through scholarships
Singh said. I know
therefore
that India needs to be emancipated from war
want and exploitation.
Sikhism was founded in the 15th century in reaction to the Hindu caste system and preaches worship of one God, equality of all races and equality of men and women.
As finance minister from 1991-96, Singh had reversed four decades of Soviet-style central planning and control and began easing subsidies, blocks on foreign imports and investment that had nearly brought the economy to a standstill.
Vajpayee's government continued those policies, expanding them to privatization of state-owned companies. Gandhi said Congress won the election because India's masses rejected religion-based politics and the poor had been forgotten in the boom that has brought 8 percent economic growth this past year.
I think our country will be safe in Dr. Manmohan Singh's hands
she said.
Singh has never won a Parliament election. He qualifies to be prime minister because he is an appointed member of the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. It is traditional, however, for someone in his position to seek a seat in the lawmaking lower house, the Lok Sabha, through a by-election within six months.
Gandhi has not explained why she chose not to be prime minister, saying only she was following her own inner voice and conscience.
Party colleagues and allies gave two reasons: her children's fear for her safety in a family that has suffered two assassinated prime ministers -her husband and mother-in-law, Indira -and abuse by leaders of Vajpayee's government, who threatened to boycott her government and bring legal cases challenging her right to be a foreign-born prime minister.
Sonia Gandhi's son, Rahul, 34, who was elected to Parliament for the first time, denied both of those arguments.
She has not buckled under any pressure
he said. The Gandhi family is going to act in what it perceives as the best interests of India.
