The Indian Cricket Team wore black armbands on the second day of the fourth Test against Australia as a mark of respect to former Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said while sharing images from the field.
Australia resumed day two at 311 for 6 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. “The Indian team is wearing black arm bands as a mark of respect in the memory of former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, who passed away,” the BCCI said in a statement.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh died in New Delhi on Thursday. He was 92. He took his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday.
Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home on Thursday, owing to age-related ailments. He could not be resuscitated and was later pronounced dead, according to a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Singh, also a renowned economist, was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation that is widely believed to have changed the course of India’s economic trajectory.
Reports claim that seven days of national mourning are to be declared. The Cabinet is to meet at 11 am to offer condolences. Dr Manmohan Singh’s last rites are to be conducted with full state honours, they added.
“I have lost a mentor and guide,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a statement, adding that Singh had “led India with immense wisdom and integrity”.
“Millions of us who admired him will remember him with the utmost pride,” said Gandhi.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said “India has lost a visionary statesman, a leader of unimpeachable integrity, and an economist of unparalleled stature.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also remembered Manmohan Singh saying, “India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji. Rising from humble origins, he rose to become a respected economist…His interventions in Parliament were also insightful. As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.”
President Droupadi Murmu wrote on X that Singh will “always be remembered for his service to the nation, his unblemished political life and his utmost humility”.
