New Delhi, April 3 -- Soft spoken, erudite and modest, Manmohan Singh has exited public life with his retirement from the Rajya Sabha - the former prime minister and architect of India's economic reforms slipping out of politics as quietly and without ceremony perhaps as he entered it 33 years ago.

The man who famously spoke of studying under the dim light of kerosene lamps in his village without electricity and went on to become a storied academic is the copybook reluctant politician, almost stumbling into the rough and tumble of mainstream politics.

Singh, 91, hailed for putting India on the road to liberalisation in the early 1990s and also criticised for turning a blind eye to allegations of corruption during his 10-year tenure as PM, became a member of the Rajya Sabha for the first time in October 1991 and was re-elected for five more terms.

He was among the five Rajya Sabha members whose tenure ended on Wednesday.

Singh was finance minister in the Narasimha Rao-led Congress government and continued in his post till 1996. He went on to become prime minister from 2004 to 2014. Sonia Gandhi declined requests from the Congress to become prime minister and named Singh instead, their partnership steering the country's ship for a decade till the BJP won in 2014.

The six-term Rajya Sabha MP, however, could never become a member of the lower house. Singh contested only one Lok Sabha election from the South Delhi constituency in 1999 and was defeated by BJP's Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

His stint in the upper house was continuous, except for a two-month gap in 2019 when he was given a Rajya Sabha berth from Rajasthan.

Singh was a Rajya Sabha member from Assam for five continuous terms, from October 1, 1991, to June 14, 2019, and thereafter, was again elected to the House from Rajasthan after the short gap. He has been a member from Rajasthan since August 20, 2019, and his term ended on April 3.

Singh was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from March 21, 1998, to May 21, 2004. He was also the leader of the house when he was the prime minister between 2004 and 2014.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.