Within hours of Raghuram Rajan’s announcement that he would not be serving a second term as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Opposition Congress slammed the BJP government, saying it had “invited this development” through a “campaign of insinuations, baseless allegations and puerile attacks” on him. Also read | Rajan not seeking second term, says he will return to academics In a statement, P Chidambaram, who was Union Finance Minister when Rajan was appointed RBI Governor by the UPA government in 2013, said: “I am disappointed and profoundly saddened by the decision of Dr Raghuram Rajan to leave the RBI on completion of his term on September 4, 2016, but I hasten to add that I am not surprised at all.” [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news “The government had invited this development through a craftily planned campaign of insinuations, baseless allegations and puerile attacks on a distinguished academic and economist,” he said. “As I had said some time ago, this government did not deserve Dr Rajan. Nevertheless, India is the loser.” Also read | RBI Governor Rajan thanks team for ‘fantastic journey’ The Congress echoed Chidambaram’s views. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari told The Indian Express: “It was expected. This government wanted him out possibly because the oligarchs who back this government were upset over the asset quality review which would have exposed the extent of the rot in the Indian banking system.” “But the government did not have the gall to tell him that they would not like him to continue because they possibly feared an adverse reaction. Therefore, you let loose your people on him, make all kinds of insinuations and allegations and essentially tell the person that if you do not go, we will hound you to the gates of hell and back and ultimately any self-respecting person will leave,” he said. Also read | Govt lauds Rajan’s ‘good work’, successor soon: Jaitley “Essentially, he was trying to clean up the banking system. So obviously those who would have been hurt were the beneficiaries of the banking system. And there was nervousness in the public sector banks. So, therefore it was coming,” Tewari said. Asked about Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy’s campaign against Rajan, he said “It is not Swamy. I disagree with that completely. Swamy was doing what the NDA government and the BJP wanted him to do. Otherwise, has there been a single statement by the Prime Minister disagreeing with what Swamy said. Has the Finance Minister or the BJP strongly distanced themselves from Swamy’s position? The BJP, in fact, endorsed the position.” "The larger message which the government has sent out is that if you don’t play ball with us, we will hound you, we will persecute you, we will make allegations and insinuations and basically we will ensure that eventually you have to leave. This is a reflection of the Orwellian state which the BJP has created in the last two years,” Tewari said. Also read | ‘I am disappointed and saddened’: Chidambaram on Rajan Senior CPI leader D Raja said while Rajan is the chief of the central bank, all the macro and micro level economic policies are decided by the government. "All macro and micro level economic policies are decided by the government and not by the RBI Governor. How come Subramanian Swamy goes on accusing Raghuram Rajan? As any other economist, he (Rajan) is also making some realistic assessments and statements on the state of economy. Swamy should accuse the government and ministers in the government for the state of affairs. Swamy knows very well that the policies are decided by the government,” he said. “Whether Finance Minister and Prime Minister agree with what Swamy has been saying and they are letting down the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. They should react to what Swamy has been saying. Government should make it clear whether they agree with Swamy. In that case, they are letting down the chief of the central bank,” Raja said.
