PM snubs Swamy over rants against Rajan

DHNS

Says fugitives will face law

New Delhi, 28 Jun 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday sent out a clear message that he found MP Subramanian Swamy’s attacks on RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan “inappropriate”. 

 

Calling Rajan “no less patriotic”, Modi virtually ticked off Swamy, saying “if anybody considers himself above the system,  then it is wrong”. This was in reply to Swamy’s remark that the RBI governor was “mentally and physically not Indian”. 

 

In an interview to a news channel, Modi spoke at length about diplomacy, economy and politics. Modi insisted that he will give a taste of law to those who have escaped to foreign countries, making a veiled reference to liquor baron Vijay Mallya and former cricket administrator Lalit Modi. “I will show them what the law can do,” Modi said, when asked if it worries him that people have misused the law.

 

Modi’s comments on Swamy assume significance in the context of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the BJP distancing themselves from his recent rants on Rajan and other bureaucrats, including Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das. 

‘Nobody above system’

“Whether it is (by someone) in my party or not, I still think such acts are inappropriate. This fondness for publicity is never going to do any good to the nation. People should conduct themselves with utmost responsibility. If anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong,” Modi said, without naming Swamy.

 

The prime minister also took a dig at the media for creating uncertainty over Rajan’s future after the NDA government came to power in May 2014. 

 

“The topic of television debates was whether the new government would let Raghuram Rajan continue. Or if the new government would oust Raghuram Rajan. And there was more or less consensus that since he was appointed by the previous government, Modi won’t let him complete his tenure and will remove him. Now, you have seen that he worked his full tenure,” Modi said.    

 

Swamy’s attack was used by the opposition to charge that it was essentially meant to settle scores with Jaitley. Swamy, who became a Rajya Sabha MP owing to strong backing from RSS, had spurned Jaitley’s advice that he should not verbally assault bureaucrats who cannot defend themselves due to office constraints.