NEW DELHI // India's prime minister marked his 80th birthday yesterday, as he struggled to save his reputation as a principled reformer amid a string of corruption scandals.
After years of policy logjam and corruption allegations, Manmohan Singh's administration burst into life last week when it announced a sudden blitz of reforms designed to revive the sharply slowing economy.
Ahead of his expected retirement at the next elections, due in 2014, the plans have given his image a boost with the Economic Times newspaper proclaiming he has got his "mojo back".
The prime minister spent the day with his family and at public engagements, including a speech to a science conference.
"There are no celebrations. He prefers to be with his family in the morning - then work as usual," Mr Singh's spokesman said.
Mr Singh was credited with helping light the fuse for the nation's rapid growth in 1991 when as finance minister he rescued an economy teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
But his reputation has taken a battering since he returned as prime minister in 2004, and especially since the 2009 re-election of the Congress government, with his administration buffeted by graft scandals.
Had Mr Singh retired in 2009, history would have remembered him as a key architect of liberalisation "but unable to resist the lure of office he stayed on", the Indian historian Ramachandra Guha wrote on Tuesday.
"In his second term, he has presided over what is arguably the most corrupt government in Indian history," Mr. Guha said in a column for the BBC, referring to the scandals that Mr Singh failed to prevent or take swift action against.
Birthday greetings from Indian politicians flowed in on Tuesday and Russian President Vladimir Putin called Mr Singh an "outstanding statesman" in a personal message.
"You have earned well-deserved respect as an outstanding statesman and eminent economist," said Mr Putin, whose country enjoys close ties with India even as New Delhi's relationship with the United States has blossomed.
But New Delhi and Moscow were on the same side of the fence during the Cold War and Russia is still India's largest arms supplier.
Mr Singh was tapped to be premier in 2004 by party president Sonia Gandhi, the widow of slain premier Rajiv Gandhi, after she led Congress to a surprise win.
Pundits believe Ms Gandhi still calls the shots, taking on India's bruising political wheeler-dealers.
There are also cynics who say she opted for Mr Singh because his self-effacing style meant he would not overshadow the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which has given India three premiers.
She is seen as seeking to manage the rise to the prime ministership of her son Rahul Gandhi, 42. But Rahul's fumbling parliamentary performance has sparked major questions about his suitability for the job.