NEW DELHI, DEC 28 (AFP/APP): India on Saturday accorded former premier Manmohan Singh, one of the architects of the country’s economic liberalisation in the early 1990s, a state funeral with full military honours, complete with a gun salute.

                  Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, died at the age of 92 on Thursday, after which seven days of state mourning were declared.

                  The honours were led by President Draupadi Murmu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance, along with the country’s top civilian and military officials. Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck also attended the ceremony.

                  Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who called the former prime minister his mentor and guide, joined Singh’s family as they prayed before his cremation.

                  Earlier, mourners gathered to pay their respects to Singh. His coffin, draped in garlands of flowers, was flanked by a guard of honour and carried to his Congress Party headquarters in New Delhi.

                  It was then taken through the capital to the cremation grounds, accompanied by guards of soldiers and accorded full state honours.

                  Modi called Singh one of India’s “most distinguished leaders”.

                  US President Joe Biden called Singh a “true statesman”, saying that he “charted pathbreaking progress that will continue to strengthen our nations — and the world — for generations to come”.

                  The former prime minister was an understated technocrat who was hailed for overseeing an economic boom in his first term.

                  Singh’s second stint ended with a series of major corruption scandals, slowing growth and high inflation.

                  Singh’s unpopularity in his second term, and lacklustre leadership by Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi, the current opposition leader in the lower house, led to Modi’s first landslide victory in 2014.