Manmohan Singh has faithfully served India, but never led it
Kevin Rafferty says Singh will leave office as one who tried and failed
There was something sad watching Manmohan Singh finally announce what everyone knew - that he will step down as India's prime minister at the next election in a few months' time. The next few months may be sadder still, watching an honorable man too tired and out of his depth to cope with the dark forces against him.
For India, the elections are likely to bring the end, at least temporarily, to the Congress Party-Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which has ruled the country for most of the time since independence.
I have known - yet not known - Singh for 40 years since he was chief economic adviser at the finance ministry, one step on his climb up the distinguished public service ladder that saw him as head of India's central bank, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, finance minister called in to rescue the economy, then prime minister for 10 years.
He was always a cautious man, reluctant to disturb the established order unless it was in the public interest. As finance minister with no money in the government coffers, he was slow to privatise public firms, which included businesses claiming that if they made a profit, the public should share in it.
Was this his essential fault, that he could not understand the unscrupulousness and greed of others in public service? This is part of Singh's mystery: no one has ever made allegations of corruption against him, yet he was surrounded by it.
Governing the complexity of India requires more than good will … and good table manners
He is certainly the most intelligent and thoughtful of India's leaders, but he lacks the public face and personality of a real politician. In most senses, he was never a real politician. He was never elected to the lower house of Parliament but held a seat for Assam, far from his own home in Delhi or the Punjab, in the elite upper house.