Method to madness, why Swamy is going after Subramanian, Jung
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy faces a dangerous proposition. Within hours of RBI governor Raghuram Rajan announcing his exit, Swamy was gunning for Delhi lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung and the Narendra Modi government’s chief economic adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian.
On the face of it, it may appear that Swamy, called by some as a “loose canon” and others as a “misguided missile”, is targeting Union finance minister Arun Jaitley – apparently his bête noire.
Jaitley may indeed be his target. But in these two cases at least, it does not appear to be so. There are various reasons behind Swamy's attack on both Jung and Subramanian. Some of them are:
1. Subramanian’s anti-India stand
Swamy has demanded the sacking of Subramanian as the CEA on two counts. Before being appointed as the chief economic adviser to the Modi government on October 14, 2014, Subramanian was a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and at the Centre for Global Development. Till he joined the new post, he had taken an anti-India stand at least on one occasion. He had appealed to the US to initiate disputes against India before the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Subramanian had urged changes in the provisions of the Indian patent law. His aim was to prevent "frivolous" patenting and preventing pharmaceutical companies from getting extensions on patents. His argument was that these companies were tweaking the patents on existing drugs and claiming them to be their own innovations.
In March 2014, he wrote, “If India does not address the problems created by section 3(d) of the patent legislation or by compulsory licensing for non-working, the United States should consider initiating WTO disputes against India.” He submitted the testimony during the process of review by the US of intellectual property (IP) protection of various countries, including India.
Swamy is also peeved with Subramanian for his alleged role in encouraging the Congress to take a rigid stand on the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He tweeted:
Guess who encouraged Congi to become rigid on GST clauses ? Jaitely's economic adviser Arvind Subramanian of Washington DC
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) 22 June 2016
Unfortunately, the BJP has distanced itself from Swamy's remarks against Subramanian even though he is seen as helping the party. He is highlighting that aspect of the CEA which had remained suppressed so far.
 |
| Chief economic adviser to Modi government Arvind Subramanian's past has come back to haunt him. |
2. Subramanian’s anti-Modi rants
Like the other secular-liberals, Subramanian too seems to be a pathological hater of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His dislike for Modi during the latter’s days as Gujarat chief minister is quite evident. In an article in the Business Standard on January 23, 2013, titled “Is the Modi miracle overrated?”, Subramanian called him a “mediocre performer”.
He claimed that in the tax collection data, one can see a Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh chief minister) effect, a Nitish Kumar (Bihar chief minister) effect, a Naveen Patnaik (Odisha chief minister) effect, but not a Narendra Modi effect.
He wrote, “… during the Modi era, Gujarat ranked among the poor performers in the level of tax collection (rank of 12 among the 21 large states covered by our analysis). More striking is the fact that this collection effort has declined since the 1990s, by about 1.2 percentage points. This decline is actually dramatic - because this was a period during which Gujarat grew very rapidly, which should have elevated its tax collections. On this important measure of governance, Mr Modi stands indicted as a mediocre performer and one whose performance has not improved over time.”
It goes to Modi’s credit, magnanimity and large-heartedness that despite the poor analysis of his leadership quality by Subramanian, he appointed him as his government’s CEA. One cannot believe that Modi was not in the know of Subramanian’s opinion about him.
At that point of time, most of the Indians were unaware of this. But Swamy should get the credit for highlighting the matter now.
3. Grudge against Delhi L-G
 |
| Delhi L-G Najeeb Jung finds himself in the firing lines of both - Arvind Kejriwal and Subramanian Swamy. |
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, and the Congress accuse Jung of acting at the behest of the Modi government. However, Swamy has a different impression about Jung. He has alleged that the Delhi L-G is in cahoots with the Congress and seeks guidance from party president Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.
Swamy has a personal axe to grind with Jung. The L-G had approved sanction request of Delhi government’s home department for Swamy's prosecution for allegedly promoting enmity among religious groups.
The Delhi government's communication to the L-G stated, “A news article titled ‘How to wipe out Islamic Terror’ was published in an English daily, DNA, on July 16, 2011 under the name of Dr Subramaniam Swamy. In this regard a complaint dated August 5, 2011 was received from Ms Esther Kar, Joint Secretary, National Commission of Minorities… After perusal of this complaint, commission was of the view that said article amounted to commission of criminal offence, since it promoted disharmony, ill will and enmity between religious groups.”
Interestingly, Jung sanctioned the prosecution request in February 2016 for an alleged incident which had happened in 2011. This must have led Swamy to allege that Jung was acting at the behest of Patel. Swamy has been proving a thorn in the flesh for the Congress’ first family.
Swamy has got the scalp of Rajan who was expecting to get a second term. Next in Swamy's sights are Subramanian and Jung. While Subramanian is in the race to succeed Rajan, Jung is one of the candidates who may get nominated by the BJP-led NDA for the vice-president's post. The two may survive Swamy's onslaught for now but they are unlikely to succeed in getting fresh appointments.