New Delhi: Even as BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has written for a second time to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan’s ouster, an online petition seeking a second term to him has got more than 50,000 signatures so far.
Rajan is unlike most of his predecessors. He has a formidable reputation as an internationally renowned economist and is still being hailed all over the world for accurately predicting the 2008 global meltdown.
No RBI Governor before him enjoyed a celebrity status like he does. His words on the economy are taken very seriously in the West.
Rajan’s predecessor D Subbarao had once said that the RBI Governor’s job was the easiest and all that he had to do was decide interest rates. But Rajan seems to have changed that perception.
When Rajan, a celebrated Chicago University Finance Professor, took charge as RBI Governor on September 4, 2013, he got a rock star welcome. Socialite Shobha De’s praise of Rajan’s physique got both bouquets and brickbats.
A month after taking charge, he made public a report on the state of economy and Indian states. According to that report, 11 states were ahead of Gujarat in overall development with six of them being Congress ruled. He was mocked and targeted by Modi fans. But he never reacted.
Rajan is credited with stabilising the volatile rupee and bringing down inflation. Low crude oil prices have also helped him. His style is unconventional and he is known to speak his mind.
His comments linking dosa price to the inflated property market got him huge media attention. At the same time he managed to rub some leaders of the ruling alliance the wrong way with his views on 'Make in India', a reference to Hitler at the DD Kosambi ideas festival and on the 'tolerance debate’.
In September 2015 he surprised everyone by announcing a rate cut by 50 basis points as against the expected 25 basis points. According to “The Business World" he had bailed out the economy amidst fears of another global slowdown.
In a recent interview with senior journalist Vir Sanghvi, former Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India Nandan Nilekani praised Rajan’s economic capabilities and ways, and hoped that he would be considered for a second term as the RBI governor.
While there is a lot of speculation about his future, the Prime Minister in an interview to Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said that Rajan’s second term was not the concern of the media.
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