“Dr Manmohan Singh always listens and seldom speaks, only sharing wisdom when he does. Wishing him many more birthdays!”, Indian National Congress tweeted.

Born into a family of modest means in Gah village of Jhelum district, now a part of Pakistan’s Punjab province in 1932, Singh was the Prime Minister during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime between 2004 and 2014. Earlier, he had served as Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India, Finance Secretary, Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission and the Union Finance Minister.

Singh was appointed as the country’s Finance Minister under late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in 1991, which marked the beginning of his political carrier. In the same year, the era of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation was ushered in