BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate termination of Raghuram Rajan as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
“I am shocked by the willful and apparently deliberate attempt by Dr Rajan to wreck the Indian economy… ” (Rajan) is acting more as a disrupter of the Indian economy than the person who wants the Indian economy to improve,” Swamy wrote in his letter.
Moreover, he is in this country on a Green Card provided by the U.S. Government and therefore mentally not fully Indian, he added.
In his letter to the PM, Swamy has also asked why a UPA-appointee was still holding the post instead of "so many nationalist-minded experts" fit for the role.
However, this is not the first time Subramanian Swamy has spoken against Raghuram Rajan. In fact in just the last two weeks, this is the third such incident.
Even last Thursday, he told reporters in Parliament House, "In my opinion, RBI Governor is not appropriate for the country. I don't want to speak much about him. He has hiked interest rates in the garb of controlling inflation that has damaged the country."
On May 9, he said RBI governor Raghuram Rajan should be removed from his position before his term ends in September.
“We should kick out the RBI governor. His term is ending in September. But why wait till September? He’s unfit for India,” Swami told Business World.
You can read the full letter here:
I write this letter to strongly recommend that you consider terminating the appointment of the Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Raghu Ram Rajan effective immediately, or in any case When his term ends in September, 2016.
The reason why I recommend this is that I am shocked by the wilful and apparently deliberate attempt by Dr. Rajan to wreck the Indian economy. For example the concept of containing inflation by rising interest rates is disastrous. When the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) started to decline due to induced recession in the small and medium industry, he shifted the target from WPI to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which has not however declined because of retail prices. On the contrary it has risen. Had Dr. Raghuram Rajan stuck to WPI interest rates would have been much lower today, and given huge relief to small and medium industries. Instead they are squeezed further and consequent increasing unemployment.
Thus, in the last two years estimated NPA in public sector banks has doubled to Rs. 3-1/2 lakhs crores.
These actions of Dr. Rajan lead me to believe that he is acting more as a disrupter of the Indian economy than the person who wants the Indian economy to improve. Moreover he is in this country on a Green Card provided by the U.S. Government and therefore mentally not fully Indian. Otherwise why would he renew his Green Card as RBI Governor by making the mandatory annual visit to the U.S. to keep the Green Card current?
The BJP came to power under your inspiring leadership in which thousands and thousands of educated persons contributed. 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 available in this country for the RBI Governorship.
I therefore urge you to terminate the appointment of Dr. Raghuram Rajan in the national interest.