Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said that the narrow worldview of the RSS “is deeply problematic for an open democratic country like ours”.
In an interview to THE WEEK, Rajan cautioned about the saffron organisation, saying that the RSS’s narrow view might be an anomaly to the India that was built upon “the views of our founding fathers like Nehru and Gandhi as well as the Constitution”.
The Week quoted him as saying, “So to that extent, I believe it is a much narrower view and because of this, it does not give as much of freedom of participation in the broad stream of Indian life to a variety of communities outside the majoritarian community, and others that it considers part of the majority. That, to my mind, is deeply problematic for an open democratic country like ours. We cannot afford it,”
Rajan, however, praised former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying, “There are good people in every organisation, there have been very very honourable and praiseworthy members like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bharat Ratna and a very decent human being as well as a great leader.”
Raghuram Rajan said he is not in agreement with the organisational aim of the RSS.
It must be noted that Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed that his party had consulted Rajan to draft its minimum income guarantee scheme Nyuntam Aay Yojana or NYAY. Since then speculations are rife that the economist might become the finance minister if an opposition alliance wins the upcoming general elections.
