Declined Nehru’s offer to join govt, never won Lok Sabha elections: Lesser-known facts about Manmohan Singh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away on December 26 in New Delhi at the age of 92. (Photo/Agencies)

Manmohan Singh led the Congress-backed UPA government as Prime Minister for two terms from 2004 to 2014. He earlier served as finance minister from 1991 to 1996 under PV Narasimha Rao. (Photo/Agencies)

Singh never won Lok Sabha elections. He was first nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Congress party in October 1991, shortly after becoming Union finance minister. Singh represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha for five consecutive terms before shifting to Rajasthan in 2019, where his final term ended in April 2024. (Photo/Agencies)

Manmohan Singh and CD Deshmukh are the only Reserve Bank governors to have served as finance ministers of India. (Photo/Agencies)

Manmohan Singh is part of a select group of four Finance Ministers who went on to become Prime Ministers, alongside Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, and V P Singh. (Photo/Agencies)

Manmohan Singh, along with HM Patel, CD Deshmukh, and Yashwant Sinha, is among the bureaucrats who later served as finance ministers. (Photo/Agencies)

While fluent in Hindi, Singh preferred to have his speeches written in Urdu, reflecting his expertise in the language. (Photo/Agencies)

Singh's early life in Gah, a village in undivided Punjab, was without basic amenities such as electricity, piped water, and schools. Driven by a strong desire to learn, he would walk long distances to study by the light of a kerosene lamp. (Photo/Agencies)

In 1993, Manmohan Singh was named "Finance Minister of the Year" by both Euromoney and Asiamoney. (Photo/Agencies)

Manmohan Singh became India’s first non-Hindu Prime Minister when he assumed office in 2004. (Photo/Agencies)

In 1962, Manmohan Singh declined Jawaharlal Nehru’s offer to join the government, choosing instead to continue teaching at his college in Amritsar. (Photo/Agencies)