Hours after Urjit Patel stepped down as the RBI governor citing “personal reasons”, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement, terming the development as a “severe blow to the nation's economy”.
He took a potshot at the government saying he hopes that the resignation is not an attempt to “destroy the institutional foundations of India's $3 trillion economy.”
Here is the full statement put out by Manmohan Singh:
It is with great sadness that I received the news of the resignation of the governor of the Reserve Bank of india, Dr Urjit Patel.
I have known Dr Patel to be an economist of high repute and also someone who cared deeply about India's financial institutions and economic policy. Dr Patel's sudden resignation, at a time when the Indian economy is faced with many headwinds is very unfortunate and is a severe blow to the nation's economy.
There have been apprehensions expressed earlier by the Deputy Governor of the RBI about the government's intent to raid the capital reserves of the RBI for fiscal purposes. I hope the resignation of the Governor is not a sign that this may soon become a reality.
Building institutions take a long time and effort but they can be destroyed in a whimper. It is institutions such as the RBI, among many others that have served as the edifice of our great nation's progress since Independence. It will be foolhardy to diminish these institutions for short-term political gains.
I wish Dr Urjit Patel success in his future endeavours. I also sincerely hope that this sudden resignation of the Governor is not a harbinger of the Modi government's attempts to destroy the institutional foundations of India's $3 trillion economy.
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