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Modi a mediocre leader, efficient in riots, economic adviser Subramanian had told US: BJP hardliner Swamy
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| Arvind Subramanian |
Close on the heels of the appointment of Urjit Patel, formerly with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Reliance Industries Ltd, as the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, hardline BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy has stepped up his attack on Arvind Subramanian, chief economic adviser (CEA) of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
Swamy, who controversially criticized outgoing RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's alleged allegiance to the US being a green card holder, tweeted on Sunday that Subramanian called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “a mediocre leader, efficient in riots” and “asked the US to grill India in World Trade Organization for drub companies market access.”
Ending with the exclamation mark “tolerance!”, Swamy's tweet is followed by his supporters wondering as to why was Subramanian appointed CEA when he had “appealed to the US to initiate disputes against India before the WTO”. Another tweeted, “It's okay if he berated an individual not if he acted against Indian interests.” A third one called Subramanian a “US infiltrator”.
Others wondered why “blame Jaichands when they are being given a free run with open eyes rather than being nipped in the bud”, warning, this type of “tolerance” would “lead to intolerance by people in 2019”, so it would be “better to throw out” Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the man who supposedly brought in Subramaniam “before people throw-out BJP”, and that Modi “blindly trusts Jaitley” or is “being blackmailed.”
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| Urjit Patel |
Interestingly, Urjit Patel – known for long to be a protagonist of his predecessor Rajan – was spared of any criticism from Swamy, who said it would be “idiotic” to attack the new appointee. Swamy is known to have be in the front rank of those who attacked Rajan, who is has spoken out loudly against the atmosphere of “intolerance” in India under Modi.
Meanwhile, top British weekly “The Economist” August 20, 2016 has commented that Modi's decision to appoint Patel as RBI was “belated”, pointing out that appointment came “nine weeks after Rajan, the respected incumbent, surprised everyone by announcing he wouldn’t stay on the job for a second term.”
Saying that Patel, who was appointed as one of four RBI deputy governors by the previous UPA government in 2013, “The Economist notes, “Patel is thought to be of similar ilk to his current boss”, which should be “reassuring for investors”, who are “still baffled as to why Rajan, a former IMF chief economist with a good record as head of the RBI, was effectively sacked by Modi.”
The weekly says, “Patel’s remit at the RBI has been to help shape monetary policy”, adding “The newish inflation-targeting framework, which has been successful in stemming rising prices (helped by outside factors such as falling oil prices), is as much his as Rajan’s.”
It further comments, “Though he lacks the stature of Rajan, which probably helped fend off inevitable calls for lower interest-rates from ministers and industrialists, Patel is seen as just as hawkish as the outgoing governor. His appointment should alleviate fears that Rajan's exit was a ploy by Modi to hobble a fiercely independent central bank.”
Wondering, however, whether Patel “keeps the same amount of pressure on the banks” as Rajan did, wich would be “a vital test of the early stages of his three-year mandate” as new RBI governor, “The Economic” concludes, “Many hope the new governor will simply be a clone of the incumbent. But that would raise questions as to why Modi didn’t just stick with the original.”
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