Love jihad, killings don’t fit well in Narendra Modi vision of Indian economy: RBI Guv Raghuram Rajan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on India being an economy which is trying to get it right does not fit well with incidents like that of love jihad and killings, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said. Governor Rajan reacted strongly to questions on whether India’s image was being impacted from incidents like love jihad, conversions, ghar vapsi and the recent killings, an apparent reference to the murder of a man in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of eating beef. Here are top 5 points he highlighted:

1. “I think there are always issues on the fringe. I think that the Finance Minister has said very clearly that these tend to distract rather than contribute. And clearly these are certainly worrisome features which have to be dealt with on the basis of law and order and so on.

2. “The emphasis that Prime Minister and Finance Minister have been putting on this being an economy which is trying to get it right and move forward on sustainable basis. I think that does not fit well with these kinds of incidents. And we need to figure out the way to reduce and certainly, I think, there is law and order issue there,” Raghuram Rajan told the India Today channel.

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3. Replying to questions on his relationship with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Rajan said it “has been of the highest order ever since he moved into the office that was when I first met him.It has been great. I think these reports of differences tend to exaggerate and sometime over-complicate what is essentially a very strong relationship,” Raghuram Rajan said.

4. Asked if he was open to a second term after 11 months when his term comes to an end, Raghuram Rajan said it was a hypothetical question. “I have not been offered one. We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”

5. On his larger than expected 0.50 per cent cut in interest rate last week, Raghuram Rajan said it was part of the process of getting investment. Asked if the rate cut was enough to boost growth rate, he said, “The real deficiency in our economy today is private investment is not picking up as it should at this stage of the cycle. The key concern of policy maker is how to get it started. How we get it going. But the key missing factor is stronger and sustainable growth in private investment.”