Misplaced outrage over choice of words

Before he was described as the rock star governor of the Reserve Bank of India who had put ‘sex back into the sensex’, Dr Raghuram Rajan was known all over the globe as an economist who was the oracle of the financial crisis’ that hit the world in 2008. He is a learned professor who has the gift to explain complex economic theories to lay people with almost no grounding in the subject. He has made the subject popular by references to ‘dosa economics’ and other paradigms. His latest expression about the state of Indian economy fitting the proverb- ‘and-hon mein kana raja-' in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king' also falls into the same kind of articulation that is his trade mark style - professorial and down to earth. It states the reality and gets the message home unambiguously. Frankly, you do not expect anything else from Dr Rajan and it would be a big let-down if he were to start choosing his words to please his masters.

So, for the lay people there was nothing surprising with not one but three union ministers having a go at him. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was almost outraged at the ‘choice of words,’ the junior minister for finance Jayant Sinha ( fellow IITian) while disagreeing with the governor said that India is a shining star, and the suave finance minister Arun Jaitley pointed out that for any other country a 7.5 percent growth rate would be a cause for celebration.

Faced with this response from the ministerial authority, Dr Rajan clarified his position in another brilliant convocation address that he delivered a few days later at the National Institute of Bank Management, Pune. He said: "I want to apologise to a section of the population, the visually impaired, who might be hurt by my statement. My intent in saying 'Oneeyed king in the land of blind' was to say that our outperformance is in the midst of global weakness. India is the fastest-growing large economy in the world. But as a central banker, I cannot get euphoric with India's economic growth rate as it is at the cusp of substantial pick-up in growth. I see scope to grow faster given capacity utilisation and agricultural output.”

The reality is that you quibble about the ‘choice of words’ only when you cannot refute the facts in contention. Even when elders in Punjab advise you that instead of calling a one-eyed man- as ‘kana’ you should refer to him as Ranjeet Singh, the great one-eyed Punjab king. Or the visually challenged persons are referred as “Surdas”. But then does it change the reality. Even Sitharaman, Sinha and Jaitley are aware of this fact. This is why their sense of outrage over the choice of words is misplaced. They are union ministers in charge of the economy, and it is for them to perform and remove the drawbacks that governor Rajan has pointed out.

The ills of the economy and the problems faced by the people in different parts of the country are well documented and do not bear any repetition. It is no secret that the promise of growth held out by Modi Sarkar is far from being redeemed in any measure, and though the current growth reflects the efforts of the government and the people, there is no doubt that we have a long way to go to boost per capita income. Only one comparison tells it all. In 1960, the size of the Chinese economy was smaller than India’s, and now it is five time our size.

Any pragmatic country does not fall prey to its own propaganda. It is all right for the Modi Sarkar to indulge in high voltage rhetoric, but when it comes to the economy it is not just statistics that matters. The people must get real income earning opportunities. Now it is wellknown for the next two months before the monsoon finally arrives at least 30 crore people in rural areas would consider themselves fortunate if they manage to survive the hardships of the acute water scarcity. In most cases, it is a question of life and death. Can this situation be ever a cause of celebration?

However, it seems that the ministers have a different set of expectations from the RBI governor. They expect him to play along the lines of the government propaganda and refrain from striking any discordant notes. Dr Rajan has been doing that very frequently, and this has added to the government’s discomfort. His views on the subject of intolerance, when the debate was raging in the newspapers also did not soothe the government’s nerves. On the issue of rate cut as well, Dr Rajan has been his own man, and then he was equally outspoken on the vexatious issue of the non-performing assets of the banks. He is too much an intelligent man to be confined to the anonymity of being a faceless voiceless central banker.

After his remarks last week, there has been some speculation that he has put paid to his chances of getting a second term as RBI governor. His first term comes to end in September this year. But surely that cannot be any of his concerns while articulating these views. A thorough professional, he does not have to be a conformist in search of assignments. However, one thing is certain that should the Modi Sarkar by such considerations while taking a final call when the time comes for deciding the issue of the next RBI governor, it would reveal yet another chink in its armour. As yet, it has not built any great reputation for sound decision making with the series of questionable decisions it has been taking. This has been more so in the context of personnel appointments in key places. But any unprofessional decision regarding the RBI governor would mark the final seal of mediocrity on the government. Then it would be beyond redemption.