Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said that Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan “should be removed” from his post. “In my opinion, the RBI governor is not apt for our country. His move to increase interest rates so as to cut down inflation and stabilise the economy has backfired…All the industries have collapsed, and as a result, unemployment has increased. In my opinion, he should be removed as early as possible,” he said. According to NDTV, Swamy added, "he should be relieved of his responsibilities as soon as possible and sent back to Chicago."

Swamy’s remarks follow Rajan’s statement on Wednesday at a lecture at Cambridge University, in the United Kingdom, that foreign banks have stopped opening branches in the country as they need a lot more capital reserves because of India’s “higher risk” credit rating. The RBI governor had also said that foreign banks were of the opinion that it was “not worth” opening banks in India. There have been consequences since banks faced pressure to hold additional capital in their reserves following the 2008 depression, he had said, according to The Times of India.

This is not the first time Swamy, who was recently sworn in as a Rajya Sabha member, has hit out at the RBI governor. Before Narendra Modi was sworn as prime minister, Swamy had indicated that the BJP might consider replacing Rajan.