The former Prime Minister of India mourned the state funeral

India mourned one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, with a state funeral in Delhi.

Singh led the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India’s economic freedom. He died on Thursday at the age of 92.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the event on Saturday. He called Singh “one of the most important leaders” in the country.

Mourners left the capital to pay their respects as Singh’s casket, which was accompanied by a guard, was carried through the city to the cremation grounds.

His eldest daughter lit his funeral pyre at the crematorium in the presence of Modi, President Draupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and senior members of Singh’s Congress Party.

Foreign dignitaries such as Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Mauritius Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful were also present.

Singh received full state honors at a ceremony that included a 21-gun salute.

After his death on Thursday night, the government declared seven days of national mourning.

Paying tribute shortly after his death, Modi said Singh’s “wisdom and humility were always evident” during their interview and that he had “made great efforts to improve people’s lives” as prime minister.

Opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was also present at the funeral, said he had lost a “mentor and guide”.

Among the compliments from other countries, US President Joe Biden said his country’s “unprecedented level of cooperation” with India would not have been possible without “Singh’s strategic vision and political courage.”

“He was a true man of the country. A dedicated public servant. And above all, he was a kind and humble person”, said Biden in a statement.

Singh changed the course of India’s economic growth during his tenure as the country’s prime minister and finance minister in 1991.

He is remembered for saying in his first budget speech: “There is no power on Earth that can stop a vision whose time has come”.

He continued to develop his economic reforms as prime minister, lifting millions out of poverty and contributing to India’s rise as one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

The first Sikh to hold the highest office in India, Singh formally apologized in 2005 for the 1984 riots in which some 3,000 Sikhs were killed.

He also became the first Indian leader after Jawaharlal Nehru, who led the country from 1947 until his death in 1964, to be re-elected after serving a first full term.

However, Singh’s second term in office was marred by a series of corruption allegations.

These scandals, many say, are what caused his Congress party to suffer a heavy defeat in the 2014 national elections.