Sack Raghuram Rajan, Subramanian Swamy urges PM in letter

Continuing his attack on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has urged him to sack the RBI chief immediately in the “national interest”, calling Dr Rajan “a disrupter of the Indian economy”. Dr Swamy claimed that Dr Rajan was “mentally not fully Indian” as he holds a “green card” provided by the US government. In the letter dated May 16, the BJP leader has also urged that Dr Rajan should not be given any extension.

Last week too, Dr Swamy had attacked Dr Rajan claiming that he was “not appropriate for the country” as he had, in the garb of controlling inflation, raised interest rates, leading to “collapse of industry and rise of unemployment in the economy”.

Dr Rajan was appointed RBI governor by the previous UPA government in September 2013 for a three-year term, which can be extended. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday had declined to wade into speculation whether Dr Rajan would get a second term or not.

Reacting sharply to the attack on Dr Rajan, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked why Dr Swamy does not hit his “real target”, Mr Jaitley, but “set up dummy targets” like the RBI governor who cannot speak out.

Mr Ramesh said the RBI was a respected and venerable institution and beyond politics and Dr Rajan is one of the most eminent central bankers in the world, acknowledged authority in finance and monetary economics.

Mr Jaitley on Tuesday parried a question on Dr Swamy’s demand saying the government and RBI are responsible institutions and decisions will be taken without being influenced by “any other factor”. “I think what is important are issues, not personalities. Secondly, whether what happens to the RBI governor, second term or no second term, what his own views on the issue are, are these matters to be discussed in public ” he asked. In his letter, Dr Swamy said: “I cannot see why someone appointed by the UPA government who is apparently working against Indian economic interests should be kept in this post when we have so many nationalist-minded experts.”