India must lead in reviving internationalism: Former PM Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that India must lead in reviving internationalism and stay ahead in the globalised world by handling its diversity and having an innate cosmopolitan temperament.

In an apparent criticism of the present government, he said India’s success is its pluralist democracy, which celebrates diversity rather than equate unity with monochromatic dispensations, and the more narrowly the country seeks to define its identity the less capacity it will have in dealing with a globalising world.

Mr Singh was speaking after receiving the prestigious Indira Gandhi prize for peace, disarmament and development for the year 2017, which was presented to him by former Chief Justice of India Justice (retd) T.S. Thakur, in presence of former president Pranab Mukherjee and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Former vice-president M. Hamid Ansari and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, besides a host of former chief ministers, Union ministers and dignitaries were present among the audience at the award function.

In her inaugural address, Sonia Gandhi said Manmohan Singh’s demeanour is such that it appears that he was born wise.

“He is the very epitome of integrity, humility, sagacity and gravitas. Not for him tall claims. Not for him empty and fanciful boasts. Not for him self-promoting bombast. Not for him falsifications of facts and history. Not for him the language of abuse and vitriol,” she said.

She said in Singh’s decade-long prime ministerial tenure, India recorded its highest economic growth rate ever.