After weeks of needless controversy and churlish politicking surrounding Raghuram Rajan, it was heartening to see the Prime Minister come out openly and strongly in support of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who had been unfairly hounded by a sitting Member of Parliament, Subramanian Swamy.
Now, Swamy has always had his oddities but there is enough space in Indian politics of all sorts of leaders, and there is no doubt that Swamy has created a niche for himself. That said, there are also issues of decorum and propriety that one cannot ignore especially when one is in Government. In his public criticism of Rajan, which transmogrified into a personal smear campaign, Swamy had crossed this line. This showed him and the Government in poor light, with the Prime Minister especially being blamed for not protecting his central bank Governor.
This, the Prime Minister corrected in his television interview on Monday evening, wherein he lashed out at those who engaged in “publicity stunts” and made clear that “those who speak such language are doing great injustice to him (Rajan)”. He also specifically tackled the issue of Rajan’s “patriotism” – the Governor had been accused of not being ‘Indian’ enough, officially because of his policies that his critics considered were not in keeping with Indian aspirations (but many believe, also in part for his foreign credentials and experiences that allowed a halo to be built around his charismatic persona) – and made it amply clear that he does not consider Rajan’s patriotism to be “any less than any of ours”.
He painstakingly underlined how Rajan loved his country and will continue to serve the nation’s interests in whichever position he may work, be it in India or abroad. In fact, the Prime Minister’s comment that one “will be doing injustice to him if one says that he will serve the country only if he is at a particular post” leaves the option open for Rajan possibly taking up another Government position at some point. Notably, even Rajan had said announcing his resignation that he shouldn’t be written off so soon.