The RBI governor has generally been a target of politicians ire, especially of the ruling party because of their role in paying more heed to inflation than what governments want in their monetary policy reviews. The present occupant of the chair Dr Raghuram Rajan is no exception, even though he comes with stellar IMF top economist tag – he even predicted the last global financial crisis. While no NDA minister has openly panned the RBI chief, they have let it be known that the ‘high’ interest rates are not in the ‘interest of the country’ as it is ‘throttling growth’ and preventing easy flow of money (loans especially) to power the various schemes launched by PM Narendra Modi including for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With reputations and much money under stake as well as future elections to win or lose, politicians have had much to say. So, from allegations to counter-reactions, here are top 5 reactions by politicians against Governor Raghuram Rajan:

Senior BJP leader and top Raghuram Rajan baiter Subramanian Swamy set the ball rolling by saying, “Mujhe lagta hai RBI Governor hamare desh ke liye anukool nahin hain. The sooner he is sent back to Chicago, the better it would be. Governor Rajan is hurting Indian economy.” He added, “I am shocked by the wilful and apparently deliberate attempt by Dr Rajan to wreck the Indian economy. These actions of Dr Rajan lead me to believe that he is acting more as a disruptor of the Indian economy than the person who wants the Indian economy to improve.” To round it all off, Swamy said, ‘inevitable consequence of rising and high interest rate and his (Rajan’s) policy was wilful and thus anti-national in intent’.

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This sparked outrage on social media, many Indian corporates came out in defence of Rajan and economists too tilted in his favour. This forced Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to denounce any attack on Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and said the debate should be about the issues and policies, and not about the personalities.

However, that did not satisfy the Congress – Rajan was the UPA’s appointee to the post – and it came out in his support with its spokesperson Sanjay Jha saying that “Raghuram Rajan is a respected economist in the global community. Criticising him sends a wrong signal to foreign firms and investors, but more so, it is a tragedy for India.”

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister in the UPA government P Chidambaram called Rajan ‘one of the most outstanding economists of the world’. He added, “The UPA Government appointed one of the most outstanding economists of the world as RBI governor. We placed full confidence in him at that time and we continue to place full confidence in him today.” He added, “I am beginning to think whether this government deserves Dr Rajan.”

Seeking to derive further advantage from this controversy, Congress insinuated that the real target of the BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and not the RBI Governor. “Subramanian Swamy is actually targeting Arun Jaitley, RBI Governor is just an excuse,” a Congress spokesperson said.

The Congress even dragged Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the row and said that his silence showed ‘obvious complicity’.

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Congress spokesman Manish Tewari derided the BJP as ‘slayer’ of institutions and said that by attacking the RBI Governor they are attacking the RBI. “It is not an attack on an individual, but an institution, perhaps for the first time in 67 years. They are sending a message, ‘if you don’t play ball, we’ll hound you.’

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh too stepped into the row and said, “He (Raghuram Rajan) is a very competent man, and he has performed exceedingly well as Reserve Bank Governor.”

When Digvijaya asked about BJP MP Subramanian Swamy writing to PM Narendra Modi to sack Rajan, alleging that he was “mentally not fully Indian”, the Congress leader retorted, “What about himself? (Swamy)”.

Another senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal too made clear his thoughts on the issue and said, “The present governor of the RBI is one of the most outstanding economists in the world. It is unfortunate that their own Rajya Sabha member has made the statement and more than that it is unfortunate that the PM has not spoken.”

With the issue showing no signs of abating and, in fact, it acquired new force as Rajan’s 2nd term was pending in NDA govt’s court, it forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s to retort sharply, in an interview to the Wall Street Journal, that Rajan’s tenure should not be of interest to media and that it will be discussed when the time for it comes.

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