Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Dr. Manmohan Singh started his political sojourn from House No. 3989, Nadanpur, at Sarumotoria in the Dispur LAC in 1991. The owner of the house was Dr. Hemaprobha Saikia, wife of former Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia.
In 1991, when PV Narsimha Rao became the Prime Minister, he offered the veteran economist of repute Dr. Manmohan Singh the finance portfolio that required him to be a member of either of the two houses of Parliament. The then Assam Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia fielded him in the Rajya Sabha from Assam. Dr. Singh took House No. 3989 of Dr. Hemaprobha Saikia on rent. Quite in sync with his new address, Dr. Singh and his wife transferred their voter enrolment from Delhi to Dispur LAC in Guwahati. He and his wife cast votes at the polling booth at Dispur Government HS School several times, even when he was the Prime Minister of India. He made it to the Rajya Sabha for five consecutive times from 1991 to 2019 from Assam.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “A generation of India will always remember Dr. Singh’s pivotal role in ushering in a free market economy and ending decades of regressive socialist politics. In his demise, the nation has lost a great patriot, an exceptional scholar, an unconventional politician, and a fine statesman.”
Taking a trip down memory lane, the owner of House No. 3989, Dr. Hemaprobha Saikia, said, “The demise of Dr. Singh is a great loss for the country. He was a close friend of my husband, late Hiteswar Saikia. After the death of my husband, he continued to remain a close member of our family. He was a great personality.”
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