In a fresh salvo at RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate sacking of the former IMF Chief Economist while alleging he was “mentally not fully Indian” and has “wilfully” wrecked the economy.
Rajan was appointed RBI Governor by the previous UPA government in September 2013 for a three-year term, which can be extended.
So what has the Rajya Sabha MP written in the letter to the PM?
- “The reason why I recommend this (Rajan’s dismissal) is that I am shocked by the wilful and apparently deliberate attempt by Dr Rajan to wreck the Indian economy,” he wrote.
- He wrote that Rajan’s concept of raising interest rates to contain inflation was “disastrous” and also, bad loans with public sector banks has doubled to Rs 3.5 lakh crore in two years.
- “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,” Swamy wrote.
- “Moreover he is in this country on a Green Card provided by the US 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 US to keep the Green Card current?” he wrote.
- “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,” Swamy wrote.
- He urged Modi “to terminate the appointment of Dr Raghuram Rajan in the national interest.”
- Swamy said Rajan’s concept of containing inflation by raising interest rates was “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,” he wrote.
- “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,” he wrote.
- Swamy said that the RBI Governor was “acting more as a disrupter of the Indian economy than the person who wants the Indian economy to improve.”