Rajan was accused by Subramanian Swamy of being “anti-national”. Rajan was accused by Subramanian Swamy of being “anti-national”.

Surviving officers of the 1953 batch of the Indian Police Service consider Raghuram Rajan as one of their own. When he was appointed governor of the Reserve Bank, we were overjoyed. When he appeared on television to explain his decisions, we listened intently. When his integrity was questioned by the BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, we were aghast. When he decided to quit, sensing the mood of the government, we were one with him. We were proud of the sober and dignified manner in which he handled such a delicate, though murky, situation.

Raghuram Rajan is the son of our batchmate Govind Rajan, who was the “topper” in our batch of 37 officers. The IAS officer who stood first in their ’53 batch was way behind him and also behind another batchmate of ours, Anand Kumar Verma, in the rankings of the IPS, that year. These two batchmates of ours appeared for the competitive exams at the age of 20, a year short of the permissible age limit for entry to the IAS. In those days, you were not permitted to reappear and compete for the IAS once you joined the Police Service, a rule that has been modified now.

Raghuram’s father was earmarked for the Intelligence Bureau, the police unit that appropriates the cream. He retired as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, a job that has now been subsumed into the office of the National Security Advisor (NSA). IPS officers like M.K. Narayanan, two years our junior, and the present NSA, Ajit Doval, a decade or more behind, have done the service proud. I am mentioning this because the public perception is that police officers, even at the top of the hierarchy, have been chosen for their brawn. It is a common misconception, one that I, for one, have become accustomed to hearing.

I will not criticise the government for replacing Raghuram. He obviously did not suit their political philosophy, notwithstanding the fact that he is an universally-acclaimed economist with impeccable credentials. I am also not going to dwell on his achievements of stabilising the rupee and addressing the problem of inflation by methods that may not have exactly fitted into the present government’s philosophy.

What I do wish to emphasise though is that he was the first governor of the Reserve Bank to come out openly to explain his decisions to the general public in disarming and frank expositions on television. People want their representatives and officials at the highest levels to be open and truthful about what they do or do not do. They want to be informed because this is the age of information. Keeping reasons for decisions close to one’s chest may suit those who love power (since information is power), but an empowered populace desires otherwise. Hence, I salute Rajan for his willingness to speak out openly, sensibly and truthfully. His credibility was extremely high and that is what matters ultimately.

When the government decided to appoint a search committee, headed by the cabinet secretary, to list candidates for deputy governor, I sensed that a message was being sent to Rajan that he was no longer wanted. The governor of the RBI used to make these choices himself or with the help of his immediate colleagues. The government’s intent was clear. It wanted to show him who was boss. On the other hand, in the case of the SEBI chief, an extension was given after scrapping the prescribed search committee. The distinction being made in the case of Rajan would not be acceptable to any person of his stature and standing. It would hurt his self-respect. I am glad he took the decision he did and, in fact, I anticipated it.

Rajan was accused by Subramanian Swamy of being “anti-national”. Since most people I know do not believe most of Swamy’s utterances, Rajan should be advised to pay no heed to such risible slander. What hurts me, though, is that Swamy, who I have never met, is married to the niece of another very dear friend of mine of yesteryears, Sardar Dastur Hormazdiyar, who was high priest of the Parsis in Pune when I headed that city’s police for a year in 1964. Homi was very proud of this nephew by marriage because, as he confided, Swamy possessed a brilliant mind and expected to become the prime minister of India some day! His niece, herself the daughter of an ICS officer, met Swamy in the US when they were students at Harvard. Their civil marriage was solemnised by a Chinese-American magistrate. Swamy was not averse to the Chinese or to non-Hindus in those days!

I felt personally aggrieved that my dear friend’s nephew by marriage should have been chosen as the hatchet man of the government to get rid of the son of another dear friend.

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