India bids goodbye to former prime minister Manmohan Singh in state funeral
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India announced a seven-day mourning period and cancelled all cultural and entertainment events in the coming week. India bid farewell to its former prime minister Manmohan Singh in a state funeral on Saturday as the country’s top politicians and leaders gathered to mourn his death in New Delhi.
![[Members of Congress party light candles as they pay homage to late India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh in Amritsar]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/28/09/GettyImages-2190909137.jpg)
Known as the prime minister who shielded India from the 2008 global financial crisis, the veteran Congress leader died late on Thursday at the age of 92. Singh was seen as the architect of India’s economic reform in the post-independence era and lauded for striking a landmark nuclear deal with the US.
![[Gursharan Kaur (C), wife of India’s late former prime minister Manmohan Singh, arrives for the state funeral ceremony at Congress headquarters in New Delhi]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/28/09/GettyImages-2190981858.jpg)
A day after the Indian leaders from across the party ranks paid tribute to the late prime minister, his body was taken to the headquarters of Congress party on Saturday morning. The party leaders and activists paid tributes to him and chanted “Manmohan Singh lives forever”.
![[The Indian national flag flies half-mast at the Parliament to mourn the death of former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh as it rains in New Delhi]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/28/09/GettyImages-2190897527.jpg)
Dozens of government officials, politicians and family members paid their last respects to Singh, whose casket was adorned with flowers and wrapped in the Indian flag. Shortly after, his body was transported to a crematorium ground for his last rites amid a state funeral procession as soldiers beat drums. Indian president Draupadi Murmu, prime minister Narendra Modi and his party leaders were also present at the state funeral.
![[Manmohan Singh addresses a press conference in 2018]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/28/09/GettyImages-955553696.jpg)
