In an interview to a channel, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has indicated his interest in a second term at RBI. His three-year term ends this September.
Recently, Subramaniam Swamy had indicated his displeasure with Rajan’s policies and said that Rajan should be sent back to Chicago.
Now, whether Rajan was right in his economic policies or not is a matter for economists to decide. What would probably work against Rajan is his nature of criticizing and lecturing the government on issues beyond his scope as RBI Governor.
For example, at public events at places such as IIT and elsewhere, Rajan spoke out against intolerance and seems to be telling the government on how it should curb it. This is clearly an offshoot of his Western upbringing where people are exposed to a different sort of culture.
For example, George Clooney can openly support Barack Obama and Clint Eastwood can support Mitt Romney and nobody would think twice about it. Because, that’s the culture in the US! But transporting that attitude to the Indian context overnight can only be a recipe for disaster.
Whether for good or bad, the government is the representative of the nation and criticizing it in public would make it lose face. Rajan might think he was just exercising his right to freedom of expression, But the BJP would lose face and look upon his comments as politically motivated or a brand building exercise being indulged in by Rajan.
People in positions of authority and responsibility should be doubly careful with their remarks, especially in India where the political climate is influenced by a hundred different factors.
Having said that, it is also unacceptable for Subramaniam Swamy to openly disrespect the RBI Governor by saying he should be sent back to Chicago.
Swamy could have said that he disagreed with Rajan’s policies, in a respectful manner. But if he did that, he wouldn’t be Subramaniam Swamy then, would he?
