New Delhi, June 20: The RSS English weekly, Organiser, has tapped Raghuram Rajan for an interview but the outgoing RBI governor has yet to get back.
Prafulla Ketkar, the editor, has confirmed putting in a request with Rajan. If the interview materialises, it is likely to feature in the next issue of the Organiser, due on Sunday.
"He's the most discussed person, so naturally a news weekly like ours would want to seek out his views. Rajan has delivered on the fiscal front and his vision should be made known to our readers," said Ketkar.
"I believe even if an individual is anti-RSS, we should speak to him. If Rajan agrees to an interview, I will follow it up with one Dr (Subramanian) Swamy to have a point-counterpoint presentation."
Ketkar sought to distance himself and the RSS from Swamy's denunciation of Rajan as "anti-national". "Some of those associated, directly or indirectly, with the NDA government advocate neo-liberal policies like Arvind Subramanian (the chief economic adviser) and Jagdish Bhagwati. I do not think any one of them works against national interest," he said.
The RSS appears keen to shrug off its perceived role in Rajan's exit after the buzz that Swamy's campaign against him had its sanction. Swamy apart, a club of Sangh-aligned Tamil Brahmins has been constantly running down the RBI governor - also a Tamil Brahmin - indicating the Sangh cannot pull itself out of the Rajan affair as easily as it wishes to.
"There is no question of the RSS taking a stand on an institution like the RBI governor's. If anyone had a problem, it would be with his understanding of economics and not against him as a person," said Ketkar.
He said that after reports of the Sangh's alleged intervention in the Rajan matter, "I tried hard to find out if this was so but I did not come across a single lead".
"People outside infer that the RSS micro-manages the BJP and the Modi government. This is not the case," claimed Ketkar.
"If the RSS believes that a swayamsevak is sitting in a position, whether it is as the Prime Minister or the Organiser editor, it will never interfere. He is free to take decisions on his own. If the person holding that position thinks it necessary, he might consult the others and take a collective decision."
Ketkar's assessment was that once the Centre let it be known that it would appoint a search panel to shortlist candidates for RBI governor before Rajan's term ends in September, Rajan "perhaps thought he did not want to go through the process and opted out".
RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya said: "The Sangh is being dragged in unnecessarily. There is no basis for the baseless perceptions (about the RSS's purported role) doing the rounds."
While the RSS might not have publicly whacked Rajan, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, its affiliate, had in July 2015 passed a resolution against him for pursuing a policy of full convertibility of the rupee on capital account.
In its meeting, the Manch had noted that the policy would "adversely affect the economy that needs controls and regulations for the time being."
Apart from Swamy, now a nominated Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP, the other members of the cabal against him are S. Gurumurthy, a Chennai-based chartered accountant and Sangh ideologue, and R. Vaidyanathan, a professor of finance and control at IIM Bangalore.
In an article in The Hindu on September 18 last year, Swamy rooted for Vaidyanathan as Rajan's successor.
On the day Rajan announced his decision to quit, Gurumurthy tweeted: "Held and expressed the view RR Rajan's thinking did not fit India's needs and he should not be repeated."
Swamy, Gurumurthy and Vaidyanathan are also obsessed with the repatriation of black money from abroad and bound by their antipathy to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
