(This story originally appeared in on Jun 26, 2016)

By

(Sam Pitroda was

advisor to prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the mid-1980s)

(As told to

)

I am not surprised by the drama leading up to the resignation of Raghuram Rajan after three years as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). First, someone is assigned to use foul language and attack a well-respected international expert who has been quietly doing a great job.Then, question his loyalty, motivation, credentials, nationality and a lot more in public. Thereafter, you try to humiliate him by saying you are sending him back to where he came from. I sympathise with Rajan, whom I know and respect a great deal. Under the circumstances, he has handled himself with dignity and respect. His departure is a national loss at this critical time in the development of India.I cannot help but remember similar attacks on me during the Rajiv Gandhi era and so feel a need to express my views. I must start by saying that giving up a high-paying, comfortable job and the lifestyle in the US and coming to India to work in the process of nation-building is not simple for a leading professional and his or her family.Patronage vs Performance In India, people are more focused on perks, privileges, patronage and personalities, not on performance and productivity. The system is still highly feudal, undemocratic and hierarchical.Only those who wield power are the ones who want and get respect. They are respected from the outside while from the inside they are hated. If you can distribute favours to people, they love you. If you cannot, they hate you. The moment you fall out of favour with the leadership, people pounce on and attack you. I faced this when Rajiv Gandhi lost the elections: my family received nasty and threatening phone calls; my wife was threatened with rape and my children that they would be kidnapped.The new telecom minister called a press conference to attack me in public and said with confidence that I have stolen millions from the government. Lies sell well in India in the right political climate. Once the process gets initiated, others interested in favours from the system take over. In my case the minister most probably didn’t even know about personal attacks on my family, but his chamchas were responsible for them.Now, in a similar situation, a bunch of sycophants lead personal attacks everyday on TV and other public platforms on Rajan. Everyone has political opinions that they are ready to discuss all the time. No one talks about the real issues around poverty, hunger, scavengers, Dalits, ecology, sanitation, economy , employment, environment, inflation, security, safety, energy, culture, among others. Then it was telecom; now it’s monetary policy.Rajan has done his job well. He is one of the most distinguished economists in the world today — so even if you don’t agree, at least respect him professionally. Instead, what we have seen in the past few days is people ganging up and hurling all kinds of abuses at him. I have faced these kinds of abuses too — in the context of the National Herald case, I faced lies and innuendos, tweets and a misinformation campaign.In 1989, I was told in Parliament that I’m a US citizen, which was incorrect. When I first moved to India I was a US passport holder, but in 1987 when I started working closely with the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, I painfully relinquished my US nationality and became an Indian citizen officially. No one asked me to do this, I did it because I felt it was morally necessary to do so.In 2016, do citizenships and green cards matter for a leading international economist?Are these the real issues? Who are you to question one’s love for the country? Can one have loyalty to two countries at the same time? These and 10 other questions come to mind when I think of unnecessary attacks on Rajan.I’m 74 and at, my age, one can laugh such things off. But for people in their 40s and 50s, who are at the peak of their careers , it is very difficult to take abuse and misinformation. But that’s how things work in India — and for people like Rajan and me and others who gave up our jobs and lives in the US to come and live in the heat and dust of India and work for the country, this lack of decency in public discourse can be very challenging.Rajan should leave such petty attacks behind — it’s time to move on to the next challenge and the next peak to climb. But Indian political leaders and policy makers need to understand that, in the process of nation-building, excluding people and talent like us for some people’s selfish gains is harmful. I could have made billions during India’s telecom revolution; I could have easily acquired a telecom licence for myself and become a billionaire, but I chose not to.I sincerely gave 20 years of my life to India and worked for the government for a salary of one rupee. I had the best time of my life, working in India. I am sure my friend Rajan will say the same thing.Once I was even approached by a man whom I didn’t know at all to get him a Rajya Sabha seat. Though I was shocked at his attitude, in India it is very common to seek such personal favours — in fact people will be disappointed if leaders in powerful positions don’t grant such favours. For professionals, there is a window of opportunity to make a meaningful contribution.If that window closes, it is time to move on and do something more interesting and challenging somewhere else. Rajan has a lot more to do, many mountains to climb and many new economic theories to explore. I wish him all the best and welcome him home to Chicago