In Praise Of Raghuram Rajan

IN a fortnight when Chhota Rajan (of Mandya) hogged all the airtime, allow us to sing a little paean for the bigger Rajan in urbs prima in India, whose more authentic passport perhaps reads: ‘surname: Raghuram Govinda’. Besides putting the sex back into the Sensex in his day job, the uber-cool RBI governor has shown that a real leader doesn’t just act like a section officer in the homoeopathy department. S/he has more sense and  breaks away from the herd to be heard, even if it isn’t quite music to uparwala’s ears.

In joining the chorus of ‘rabid’ Indians, as a former commerce graduate of Shri Ram College called his countrymen voicing their concern against the climate of intolerance, the IIT-MIT whiz has shown the supine and the sanguine that there is more to a country than growth and rate cuts. In reminding us that India’s “tolerance and tradition of debate and openness help form the foundation for its current and future success,” Raghuram Rajan has sent the clearest message yet to those who sign his paycheque that silence is poison.