I’ll miss you, Barack Obama tells Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: A little after Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s address, US President Barack Obama called him up and said he was one of the few public leaders whom he admired. “It has been a great pleasure to serve with you, there are very few people in public life that I have admired or appreciated more,” Mr Obama told Dr Singh.

“Your leadership has been an important factor in evolving a more cooperative framework in addressing global challenges,” Dr Singh told him. The President said to the PM: “Your tenure has been good for India and India-US relations. I will miss working with you on day-to-day basis.” He also said: “I hope you get some rest and I hope to see you soon.”

During his address, Dr Singh referred to his humble origins. “This great land of ours where I, an underprivileged child of Partition, was empowered enough to rise and occupy high office. It is both a debt that I will never be able to repay and a decoration that I will always wear with pride,” he said. “As I leave office, my abiding memory will be the love and kindness that I have always received from you.”

“As I have said on many occasions, my life and tenure in public office are an open book. I have always tried to do my best in serving this great nation of ours.” Dr Singh  said he was confident about the future of India. “I firmly believe that the emergence of India as a major powerhouse of the evolving global economy is an idea whose time has come.

A little while later, Dr Singh chaired the last meeting of the Union Cabinet and took the decision to recommend dissolution of the Lok Sabha. The recommendation was then handed over to President Pranab Mukherjee.