Swamy writes to PM Modi; says sack Rajan

The BJP-led government's newest Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an immediate termination of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, ANI news agency said on Twitter. 

"I am shocked by the wilful and apparently deliberate attempt by Rajan to wreck the Indian economy," NDTV reported Tuesday citing the two-page letter Swamy had written to Modi on May 16. 

To justify his demand of seeking Rajan's termination, Swamy in a letter alleging Rajan's actions said that the Governor's moves of hiking interest rates to contain inflation were disastrous. 

"When the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) started to decline due to induced recession in the small and medium industry, he shifted the target to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which has not, however, declined because of retail prices. Had Rajan stuck to the WPI, interest rates would have been much lower today, and given much relief to the small and medium industries" he said in a letter. 

He also said that estimated non-performing assets (NPA) ratio in the public sector banks has doubled to Rs 3.5 lakh crore in the last two years.

These actions of Rajan lead me to believe that he is acting more as a disrupter of the Indian economy than the person who wants the Indian economy to improve, Swamy wrote in the letter.

Rajan is in this country on a Green Card provided by the US government and "therefore mentally not fully Indian", he said.

"I cannot see why someone appointed by the UPA government who is apparently working against Indian economic interests should be kept in this post when we have so many nationalist-minded experts available in this country for the RBI Governorship," he said. 

Rajan was appointed as the RBI governor in September 2013 and is currently on leave as Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.  

The current three-year term of Rajan as RBI's head is going to end on September this year. 

Swamy had last week alleged that Rajan is "not appropriate for the country" as he had in the garb of controlling inflation raised interest rates leading to a "collapse of industry and rise of unemployment in the economy." PTI reported. 

"The sooner he is sent back to Chicago, the better it would be," Swamy said in the Parliament. 

Swamy has urged terminating Rajan's appointment citing national interest.