It was a walk down memory lane for Panjab University’s (PU’s) staff and students as author and daughter of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Daman Singh, unveiled a commemorative plaque in honour of PU’s distinguished alumnus. The event marked the renaming of Arts Block 3 as Dr Manmohan Singh Hall, which houses the Department of Economics, among others. Daman also delivered the PU Colloquium lecture titled ‘Dr Manmohan Singh: The Quintessential Scholar’. “This is a special moment for me and my family. I am touched by the many sincere and thoughtful ways PU has honoured my father. I am especially happy that my nephew Raghav is here with us today, as he had a very close relationship with my father. Raghav could always make him laugh,” she said. “I have never given a lecture before, and I am doing this for my father, as very few people knew him as a teacher and student. He was deeply indebted to PU for his achievements.” Daman, author of Strictly Personal: Manmohan & Gursharan—a moving biographical portrait of her parents—chose to chart her father’s journey from his childhood to the office of the Prime Minister, peppered with anecdotes that brought the late leader closer to the audience. She said the foundation of his remarkable career as an economist and statesman was laid by his teachers throughout his academic life. Singh’s brilliance, she noted, took him from Punjab to Cambridge, where he earned First Class Honours in Economics, and then to Oxford, where he completed his D.Phil. “My father’s love for economics was immense. He believed it was the key to understanding why some countries are rich and others poor,” she said. Daman spoke at length about his mentors, including Dr S B Rangnekar, then head of the economics department. Singh had joined the department in Hoshiarpur in 1952, and it was Rangnekar who guided him to Cambridge. “My father returned to PU as a senior lecturer in 1957 and became a full professor by the age of 33. The world was at his feet, but he chose to come back to the economics department. Some of his and my grandmother’s closest friends were—and still are—in Chandigarh. My parents always planned to settle here, though that didn’t happen. My mother loved living on campus. Despite his heavy workload, my father continued to research and write, and books were his prized possessions,” she recalled, speaking of his humility. The second half of her lecture focused on Dr Singh’s speeches across a wide range of issues. “After 40 years of public speaking, I am surprised people think he was silent,” she remarked. She recalled his speech in 1991, at a time when Punjab was in turmoil. “He said violence could not resolve issues and senseless violence was only harming Punjab. He believed India’s democracy could satisfy the wishes of the Sikh community,” she said. Daman also touched upon his views on education and freedom of expression. “He believed teaching was the noblest profession, and that teachers were our most precious resource. He also spoke about the need to protect universities as spaces for free expression and peaceful dissent. In place of neo-nationalistic tendencies, he called for reason and rationality. Facts must be separated from fiction. Students must be unafraid to speak and think freely. Dissent must be encouraged to build a cohesive Indian democracy,” she said. Dedicated to his memory, PU will now host an annual memorial lecture series on Dr Singh. The university’s pension scheme was also approved during his tenure. PU has preserved the room and chair where Dr Singh would sit and study after his lectures, with his official residence having been F-15 on campus.
