As Vladimir Putin touches down in New Delhi and the world once again cranes its neck to read the temperature of India–Russia ties, a quieter but no less intriguing figure stands thousands of kilometres away in western Russia -- Abhay Kumar Singh, the first Indian-origin lawmaker to ever hold office in the Russian Federation.
Singh is not a diplomat. He is not a Kremlin envoy. He is, in many ways, something unique: a Patna boy who now sits in the Kursk regional assembly as a deputat -- the Russian equivalent of a state legislator.
During the Russian president’s visit to India, Singh has spoken candidly about the strategic importance of the Modi–Moscow relationship.
On the two leaders, he says: "The entire world has its eyes on the friendship between the Head of the Country of the two nations.”
A historic election in Kursk
Kursk -- best known for hosting the largest land battle of World War II -- etched a new chapter in its history by electing Singh not once but twice, in 2017 and 2022. The city, which once decided the fate of Hitler’s advance into the Soviet Union, is now home to the only Indian-origin legislator in the country.
A member of the ruling United Russia party led by President Vladimir Putin, Singh has become a symbol of what one can say is the “Russian versi ..
From Patna to Putin-era politics
As per The Week, Singh’s journey began in 1991, when he left Patna for the Soviet Union to study medicine. His introduction to Russia was unforgiving: harsh winters, a difficult language, and a country on the brink of collapse.
He remembers those days vividly. “I wanted to come back home,” he admits. But support came from an unexpected source.
“There was a dean called Elena, who took me under her wing; she was really like my mother. She told me to hang in there for a month. In that one month, she helped me settle in. It felt like home and I never left.”
Temperatures plunged to –25°C and even –30°C, but Singh stayed. He witnessed the Soviet Union’s final days, India’s economic reforms, and the turbulence of the 1990s -- rationing, shortages, long queues.
He recalls: “You needed tickets to buy everything from televisions to food. I saw everything change in front of my eyes -- it was after Vladimir Putin came in. There is nothing that you don’t get in Russia that you get in developed countries.”
Breaking barriers in Russian politics
In the Kursk regional assembly, Singh is often the only non-white legislator. The reaction, he says, is a mix of curiosity and admiration. “People have never seen anyone like me become a politician and get elected,” he told the news outlet, recalling how passersby stop to take photos with him once they notice his official badge.
A strong supporter of Russia’s current governance model, Singh argues that the country’s size and history make Western-style “soft democracy” impractical.
As he puts it: “If you look at it just geographically, it is so huge -- you cannot govern by soft democracy. Like it was during Boris Yeltsin’s time, when Chechnya wanted to break away. Other states wanted to be independent. Russia was staggering after the collapse of the Soviet Union. When it was handed over to Vladimir Putin, the cou ..
Source Name : Economic Times