Former Indian prime minister mourned at state funeral

India mourned one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, at a state funeral in Delhi.

Singh ruled the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India’s economic liberalization. He died Thursday at the age of 92.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the ceremony on Saturday. He called Singh one of the country’s ‘most distinguished leaders’.

Mourners traveled across the capital to pay their respects as Singh’s coffin, flanked by a guard of honour, was carried through the city to the cremation grounds.

His eldest daughter lit her funeral pyre at the crematorium in front of Modi, President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and senior members of Singh’s Congress Party.

Foreign dignitaries such as Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Mauritius Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful were also present.

Singh received full state honors in a ceremony that included a 21-gun salute.

Following his death on Thursday evening, the government declared seven days of national mourning.

Paying tribute soon after his death, Modi said Singh’s “wisdom and humility were always visible” during their interactions and that he had “made tremendous efforts to improve people’s lives” as prime minister .

Leader of Opposition Congress Rahul Gandhi, who was also present at the funeral, said he had lost “a mentor and a guide”.

Among foreign tributes, US President Joe Biden said his country’s “unprecedented level of cooperation” with India would not have been possible without Singh’s “strategic vision and political courage”.

“He was a true statesman. A dedicated public servant. And above all, he was a kind and humble person,” Biden said in a statement.

Singh changed India’s economic growth trajectory when he was the country’s Prime Minister and Finance Minister in 1991.

He is remembered for saying in his first budget speech: “No power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”

He continued to build on his economic reform measures as prime minister, lifting millions out of poverty and contributing to India’s rise as one of the fastest growing major economies in the world.

The first Sikh to hold India’s highest office, Singh formally apologized in 2005 for the 1984 riots in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed.

He was also the first Indian leader after Jawaharlal Nehru, who led the country from 1947 until his death in 1964, to be re-elected after serving his first full term.

Singh’s second term, however, was marred by a series of corruption allegations.

Many believe these scandals were partly responsible for his Congress party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 general elections.