Manmohan Singh’s 2 BHK house in Guwahati, how he remained a diligent tenant

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarkable political journey took him to Assam, which unexpectedly became his second home. A Congress Rajya Sabha member from Assam, he started as an “outsider” but became the chief minister of the northeastern state.

In 1991, when then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao chose him as his finance minister, Manmohan Singh became a Rajya Sabha member from Assam, which was then ruled by a Congress government. House no. 3989, Nandan Nagar, Sarumtria, Guwahati, remained his address until his fifth term in Rajya Sabha ended in 2019. He was then nominated from Rajasthan until he retired earlier this year.

The 2 BHK apartment in former Assam Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia’s private residence has been converted into Dr. Singh’s rental accommodation. Later the names of Dr. Singh and his wife moved as voters from Delhi to Assam to a polling station in Dispur.

“As Prime Minister Naramisha Rao Dr. Wanting to bring Singh into politics and make him his finance minister, he shared the idea with my husband, who was then the chief minister of Assam. He suggested Dr. Sending Singh to Rajya Sabha… “That’s how it all started,” said Hemoprava Saikia, the wife of Hiteshwar Saikia and the landlady of Manmohan Singh. Ms Saikia, a former minister of Assam, said that even a court had ruled that one need not own any property in Assam to be nominated to Rajya Sabha by the state.

“There were people who Dr. Didn’t like Singh’s entry in Assam; some even went to court and challenged his Rajya Sabha nomination on the grounds that he did not have an address in Assam. Then we offered our 2 BHK partial apartment for rent, which became his personal address from 1991 onwards. The house was rented for Rs 700,” recalls Ms. Saikia.

As a Rajya Sabha member from Assam, Dr. Singh played a key role in major projects in the state. As Prime Minister, he approved the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, a long-standing demand and a consequence of the Assam Accord of the 1980s.

“He was a simple man with great integrity. Whenever he came here, we would chat with the family. After my husband died, many people offered him a luxurious apartment here. Even when my husband became prime minister, many suggested that he shouldn’t do this, “Keep this two-bedroom house as his address. But Dr. Singh said this house was his connection to Assam, he never wanted to change it,” Ms Saikia told NDTV.

The 84-year-old then told interesting anecdotes about the former prime minister, who died on Thursday evening at the age of 92. For one thing, she revealed, he attached particular importance to rent payments.

“He used to always pay the rent on time and by check. Once, when he was prime minister, he sent the rent by check but we forgot to cash it, so he wrote a letter and enclosed a new check asking us to cash it.” “Even as prime minister, he was as Tenants hardworking.” “Politicians of this generation can learn a lot from Dr. Singh,” Ms. Saikia further noted.

She last met her famous tenant during the 2019 Lok Sabha election when Dr. Singh came to cast his vote and have lunch with the Saikia family.

The family never rented the house to anyone else after Dr. Singh had left; It will always remain closed in his memory, said Ms. Saikia.