San Francisco: Sam Pitroda, Chairperson of the Indian Overseas Congress, expressed deep grief over the passing away of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.

Pitroda offered his condolences to Dr Singh's family, friends, and the people of India, describing his death as a significant loss of a great leader who served as Prime Minister for a decade.

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"I found him to be very Gandhian in his approach to leadership. He was a man of character, values, substance, education, experience, morals, and ethics. He was deeply committed to the values of the Congress party," Pitroda said.

He added that Manmohan Singh was "a leader who believed in democracy, freedom, human rights. He believed in truth, and trust, and understood that India's biggest challenge is income inequality. We had a job to lift millions of people below the poverty line and build more of an inclusive society. He respected our diversity and he was committed to economic prosperity. His decision in 1991 planted seeds for economic opportunities in India. Liberalisation was the key to his policy. We still have a long way to go. But I think seeds were planted quite some time ago."

Speaking about Dr Singh's leadership style, Pitroda said, "I found him to be a leader who was not focused on command and control, but was focused on communication, coordination, and co-creation."

He further emphasised that Dr Singh was a humble Prime Minister, easy to approach, and open to discussions.

"He never had criticism of an individual. He may have a criticism of an idea, but he was very dignified. And in India, sometimes these kinds of things are seen as a weakness and not a strength. To me, Gandhian leader is full of strength," Pitroda concluded.

Manmohan Singh passed away at AIIMS, Delhi, on Thursday evening at the age of 92 due to age-related medical conditions. He had a sudden loss of consciousness at home after which he was rushed to the AIIMS Delhi.

President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and leaders across the political spectrum condoled Manmohan Singh's death.

Born in Punjab in 1932, he served two terms as Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He first took office after the Congress Party's victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, defeating the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA. He served a second term from 2009 to 2014 and was succeeded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. Dr Manmohan Singh retired from the Rajya Sabha earlier this year after serving for 33 years.

ANI