Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The Architect of India's Economic Reforms is set to take the oath as the 13th Prime Minister of Secular India.  Given the pluralism and diversity of the country, the world's largest democracy is a brilliant illustration of democratic principles and secular rule.   The President of the Republic is Muslim Dr. Abdul Kalam, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, also from a minority community. And the Congress President Sonia Gandhi is a Christian. Today,  "India is Shining".   The minorities can rest safe and secure with secular democratic Indians at the helm of affairs.   By a strange twist of fate, the slogan "India Shining" was coined by the routed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as their campaign for the general elections, but it was that very slogan that exposed the darkness that the nation had plunged into.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, a brilliant economist, admired and respected across the political spectrum in India, is equally respected and recognized globally.  Dr. Singh studied at International Trade at Oxford and Cambridge. His doctoral thesis "India's Export Trends and Prospects of Self-Sustained Growth" was the first to demonstrate that poor performance of India's exports was due to indigenous factors and not to the lack of world demand.  His economist peers at Oxford say his thesis was a landmark study and could be said to have begun the real process of conceptualizing the eventual integration of India's economy with the rest of the world.  Dr. Singh has great political insight and courage to make tough decisions, a man without guile, who has strong convictions and is utterly honest.    Dr. Singh as Finance Minister steered India out of its worst economic crisis, with his 1991 budget.  He announced partial convertibility of the rupee and slashed import duties, ushering in a new economic era for India, which was transiting from a state- controlled to a market economy.

 A cross section of industry leaders welcomed back 'the father of economic reforms".  The majority of representatives of India Inc. financial investors, who know Dr. Singh personally, describe him as an outstanding economist with an ability to build consensus, a perfect gentleman, totally transparent, and the ideal candidate to give impetus to reforms particularly in the field of agriculture, the financial sector, labor and education. "We will continue reforms, with a human face," Dr. Singh has said.

His appointment as Prime Minister is a tribute to his brilliance and credibility, his transition from a life in academia and bureaucracy into the political arena and from his socialist beginnings to a die-hard reformer.