EARLIER this year, a young reporter from the Times Of India posed a question on terrorism to United States President Barack Obama at a news conference in America.

While replying to the reporter, Mr Obama took the opportunity to tell her that Indian prime minister Mr Manmohan Singh is a "wonderful man", a compliment she acknowledged with a gleeful "Thank You".

"You sound like you had something to do with it," teased the charismatic US President, drawing laughter from the audience.

The reporter's reply at the time sums up what majority of Indians, especially the younger generation, feel about Dr Singh, the most qualified man to don the prime ministerial post in the murky waters of Indian politics.

She said: "It's just that we are so proud of him".

As the results of the Indian elections trickled out, the sentiment that lone reporter had voiced in an alien land, seemed to reveberate in full volume across the country of one billion as the incumbent Congress Party and its allies swept to power at the center.

Those people who had been responsible enough to cast their votes in the marathon five-phase poll process, have handed over the reins of the largest democracy in the world to the soft-spoken Dr Manmohan Singh, who is more than capable of guiding this energetic, bustling nation to a brighter future.

Let me substantiate my belief with reason.

A thinker and scholar, Dr Singh has a First Class Honours degree in Economics from UK's Cambridge University. He followed that up with a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford.

Dr Singh had a short stint in UNCTAD Secretariat and was the Secretary General of South Commission in Geneva. He has been the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Advisor to the Prime Minister and also served as India's Finance Minister for five years - during which he pulled a struggling Indian economy out of a debt rut and kick-started its engine to speed on the globalisation super-highway.

His contribution was acknowledged and he won the Euro Money Finance Minister of the Year Award in 1993. He is also the recepient of India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan.

None of the leaders aspiring for the highest office are as clean, as qualified or even as polished as Dr Singh. In fact, they do not even come close. They could do well to be just happy to listen to the man when he speaks.

Dr Singh was Congress Party's prime ministerial candidate during this elections. Opposition politicians tried to tarnish his image calling him the "weakest prime minister" India has ever had. His leadership qualities were scrutinised, his authority was questioned and his modesty was mistaken for meekness.

But, many of these leaders are old, short-sighted and totally cut-off from the world view of the new generation Indians.

Before the voting began, Aamir Khan, a Bollywood superstar, appealed to the public to think before the put their finger on the voting machine button to register their vote. I guess the more than 700 million Indians - who have the power to decide - did just that.

A majority of them handed the Congress Party a resounding victory - which only means, they gave a stamp of approval for Dr Singh, a man of honesty and integrity, to continue in the chair he so ably and deservedly occupied during the last five years.

He becomes only the second man in India's political history to win a second term after five years in office after Jawaharlal Nehru, our first prime minister.

This has effectively shut the voices of those who were aiming to occupy the chair without having the calibre.

Also, those who were determined to not let him occupy the chair again. They must now be licking their bruised egos.

Some of the allies, who, before the elections, turned away from him as a bad bet, are already flocking to him for inclusion in the government. Opportunists are like that, an incurable lot who will flock to the lump of sugar like ants.

As for me, I am more than happy that Dr Singh will be our prime minister. I am also glad that my fellow countrymen voted wisely and fairly.

Their voting pattern echoes the same sentiment as that of the young TOI reporter: "We are proud of our prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh".