Continuing his attack on RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack him immediately alleging he has “willfully” wrecked the economy.
However, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh reacted sharply to the attack on Rajan asking why Swamy does not hit his “real target” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and “set up dummy targets” like the RBI Governor who cannot speak out.
BJP spokesperson on economic affairs Gopal Krishna Aggarwal said Swamy is a senior leader whose opinions “definitely matters” but added the final say will be with the Government.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Swamy said Rajan is acting as disrupter of Indian economy. “The reason why I recommend this (sacking) is that I am shocked by the willful and apparently deliberate attempt by 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 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 Rs.3.5 lakh crore,” said Swamy.
Rajan was appointed RBI Governor by the previous UPA Government in September 2013 for a three-year term, which can be extended. “These actions of 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 currentIJ” he wrote.