Swaminathan Gurumurthy, who joined the Reserve Bank of India's board in August, is now one of the country's most influential economic voices, pressing the central bank to loosen policy to help India's smaller businesses.
Swaminathan Gurumurthy, who joined the Reserve Bank of India's board in August, is now one of the country's most influential economic voices, pressing the central bank to loosen policy to help India's smaller businesses.
Here are a selection of his views on politics, economics and society, taken from speeches and social media posts.
ON THE WEST
"I reject not Western knowledge or tech, but embracing models that have not stood test of time and stand discredited. We can't import Western anthropological modernity into Indian society."
ON COLONIALISM
"Colonisation lasted for 200 years. Now it's abused as one of the worst happenings in the history of world. It dominated the world, our minds, it left its imprint. Even today we suffer from hangovers of colonisation. The colonisers feel guilty about colonisation. But the colonised people are not feeling sad that they were colonised. They revel in things which colonisers left. It is a paradoxical phenomenon."
ON THE OPPOSITION CONGRESS PARTY
"The Congress agenda is to make India a nation of minorities and castes, which is the best way to destroy the Indian society."
ON DEMONETISATION
"The Indian economy could have collapsed if demonetisation hadn't happened. It was a corrective. Masses who used only cash for their daily lives massively support demonetisation. Buccaneers using cash to push up asset prices to make a killing for themselves and killed the economy are hostile."
ON THE ROHINGYA
"They should be sent back before they do what illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators did: take ration cards, driving licences."
ON ISLAM
"Confined to homes it is as good as any other religion. Once it goes into the streets, it is as violent as fascism and Nazism."
ON TOLERANCE
"Hinduism has the advantage of doctrinal tolerance. Islam and Christianity suffer from doctrinal intolerance."
ON DONALD TRUMP
"Trump was working with a plan and was correcting the distortions for America. See the results he produced: the dollar rose by 5.6 percent. Stocks rose by 38 percent in 22 months, a historic rate of return for America by any standards."
ON JAPAN
"Our financial, investment, trade partner must be Japan. But our mind is hooked to America."
ON A FORMER RBI GOVERNOR
"Raghuram Rajan destroyed the RBI's independence by making it subservient to global thought rather than pursue India-centric solutions. The RBI can't now move away from that line for fear of going against global financial opinion. RBI has lost its capacity to think for India." (Reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Alex Richardson)
Here are a selection of his views on politics, economics and society, taken from speeches and social media posts.
ON THE WEST
"I reject not Western knowledge or tech, but embracing models that have not stood test of time and stand discredited. We can't import Western anthropological modernity into Indian society."
ON COLONIALISM
"Colonisation lasted for 200 years. Now it's abused as one of the worst happenings in the history of world. It dominated the world, our minds, it left its imprint. Even today we suffer from hangovers of colonisation. The colonisers feel guilty about colonisation. But the colonised people are not feeling sad that they were colonised. They revel in things which colonisers left. It is a paradoxical phenomenon."
ON THE OPPOSITION CONGRESS PARTY
"The Congress agenda is to make India a nation of minorities and castes, which is the best way to destroy the Indian society."
ON DEMONETISATION
"The Indian economy could have collapsed if demonetisation hadn't happened. It was a corrective. Masses who used only cash for their daily lives massively support demonetisation. Buccaneers using cash to push up asset prices to make a killing for themselves and killed the economy are hostile."
ON THE ROHINGYA
"They should be sent back before they do what illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators did: take ration cards, driving licences."
ON ISLAM
"Confined to homes it is as good as any other religion. Once it goes into the streets, it is as violent as fascism and Nazism."
ON TOLERANCE
"Hinduism has the advantage of doctrinal tolerance. Islam and Christianity suffer from doctrinal intolerance."
ON DONALD TRUMP
"Trump was working with a plan and was correcting the distortions for America. See the results he produced: the dollar rose by 5.6 percent. Stocks rose by 38 percent in 22 months, a historic rate of return for America by any standards."
ON JAPAN
"Our financial, investment, trade partner must be Japan. But our mind is hooked to America."
ON A FORMER RBI GOVERNOR
"Raghuram Rajan destroyed the RBI's independence by making it subservient to global thought rather than pursue India-centric solutions. The RBI can't now move away from that line for fear of going against global financial opinion. RBI has lost its capacity to think for India." (Reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Alex Richardson)