NEW DELHI: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate sacking of Raghuram Rajan as RBI governor.
“The RBI governor is wilfully and deliberately wrecking the Indian economy,” Swamy has written in the letter, adding, “He is mentally not fully Indian.”
“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,” Swamy has written.
Bad loans with public sector banks have doubled to Rs 3.5 lakh crore in two years, Swamy said.
“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 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 has written.
Swamy in his letter to the Prime Minister said the BJP came to power under his inspiring leadership. “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.”
He urged Modi “to terminate the appointment of Dr Raghuram Rajan in the national interest.”
Rajan was appointed RBI governor by the previous UPA government in September 2013 for a three-year term, which can be extended.
The BJP leader had last week suggested that Raghuram Rajan be removed from the post as he was responsible for “unemployment and collapse” of industrial activity.
“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,” Swamy had told reporters in Parliament House.
Swamy’s salvo against Raghuram Rajan came amid reports of the RBI chief being interested in a second term .
When asked about the possibility, Rajan had recently said “he has enjoyed every moment of the job but there is ‘more to do’ “.
“There is a lot of fulfillment from making things actually happen for improving the environment… I have enjoyed every moment of the job,” Rajan said here.
On Monday, finance minister Arun Jaitley had refused to be drawn into the controversy, but said there is a “mature relationship” between the central bank and the government.
“As far as the finance ministry and RBI are concerned, there is an institutional relationship between the two. It is a very mature relationship. We at the highest level at the two institutions have discussion and each other views is considered between us,” he said.
To a question whether Rajan is getting an extension, he quipped “these are not issues which we discuss through the media.”
(With inputs from agencies)
