Days before leaving RBI, outgoing Governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday said he was willing to stay a bit longer but could not reach the “right kind of agreement” with the government on extension of his tenure.
Because of ... unfinished task, I was willing perhaps to stay provided we could reach the right kind of agreement, we didn’t. We started the dialogue and we were going along that path but essentially we agreed at some point that it did not make sense to pursue the dialogue further. That’s where it ended.Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India
In an interview to noted journalist Karan Thapar on India Today channel, Rajan defended his controversial speech on perceived growing intolerance in the country, which had riled the government. Rejecting criticism of having spoken ‘out of turn’ on various occasions, Rajan said it was “legitimate duty” and “moral responsibility” of public figures to tell young minds what good citizenship is about.
There were variety of places where differences may have been in terms of horizons and this and that. I think We just didn’t reach an agreement where... remember my term came to an end, so it had to be a new term.Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India
Social Media Picks Only What it Wants to Hear: Rajan
On inflation, Rajan said he was hopeful that inflation would fall below 6 per cent, a level that was breached in the previous month, while adding that the data should be awaited for August – the last full month of his tenure.
Asked if he had intolerance within BJP and Sangh Pariwar in mind when he made the controversial speech at IIT-Delhi in October 2015, Rajan said:
No. I had the environment certainly at the back of mind where there was a discussion certainly about tolerance. It was a topical issue. But a week after I gave the speech, I met a Cabinet minister who said I have been saying exactly these things. So it wasn’t as if it was ‘anti government’. Which government is going to preach intolerance?
Rajan appeared to blame the social media for taking away from speeches “what it wants to hear.”
I think the way the speeches are sometimes interpreted, when you read the speeches it comes out the way the criticism appears.Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India
Will Take a Break After Retirement: Rajan
On his post-retirement plans, Rajan said he is going to take a break from public speaking for some time as it was important for his successor Urjit Patel at RBI to get some space.
So when I move out, I will stay out for a little while. I actually want to learn a little more about certain aspects of the country and travel around a little bit... I will pop back in. I will work with informal structure... This is an exciting, vibrant, large, immensely interesting country and there is absolutely no reason why I should stay out.Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India
On advise to his successor, he said Patel is a grown-up man and knows how to do things and has also been handling some of the relationships with the government for some time.
Rajan will leaving Reserve Bank on completion of his three-year term as RBI Governor on September 4 and return to academia. Several Governors before Rajan including C Rangarajan, Y V Reddy, Bimal Jalan and D Subbarao got five-year term.
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