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Was Rajan offered a ‘second term’ in the first place: Subramanian Swamy
BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy appeared to dismiss RBI chief Raghuram Rajan’s announcement on Saturday that he will return to academia when his current term ends in September.
BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy appeared to dismiss RBI chief Raghuram Rajan’s announcement on Saturday that he will return to academia when his current term ends in September.
Swamy has been one of Rajan’s chief critics in recent months and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May asking for the dismissal of the Reserve Bank of India governor.
“Raghuram Rajan is a government employee and government employees are not selected on the basis of popular vote,” he told news agency ANI, a possible reference to the groundswell of support Rajan received from India Inc to continue as RBI governor.
“R3 has said he will go back to US. Whatever fig leaf he wants for hiding the reality we should not grudge it. Say goodbye!,” he said in a tweet.
“Was he getting a second term in the first place? How do we know that he was getting a second term? I have no information that he was getting a second term. So if he says he wants to go and wants to save his self respect, I have no problem. Let them pretend that he is giving up and going but as long as he goes, it’s good,” Swamy told ANI.
Swamy’s reaction came after Rajan wrote a letter to RBI staff where he said he was proud of having tamed inflation but hinted he may have decided to leave the central bank.
“On due reflection, and after consultation with the government, I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as governor ends on September 4, 2016.”
“I will, of course, always be available to serve my country when needed,” Rajan wrote.
Swamy also tweeted that his respect for Modi had gone up immensely as he did not bend to pressure over the Rajan issue.
Last month, Swamy requested Modi to terminate Rajan’s appointment and said the RBI chief was “mentally not fully Indian”.
Swami alleged that Rajan was willfully and deliberately wrecking the Indian economy and said the RBI governor was acting as a disrupter of the Indian economy.
“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,” he wrote.
An appointee of the previous UPA administration, Rajan has often been accused of hurting the economy by holding interest rates with an eye on inflation.
