After Raghuram Rajan, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has shifted his focus to Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian (pictured above), reported the Times of India. On Wednesday, Swamy took to Twitter and questioned the economist's stand on Intellectual Property Rights. Swamy has also said that Subramanian is responsible in the Congress's stand on the Goods And Service Tax Bill.
However, the party has distanced itself from the Rajya Sabha member's views and said it was Swamy's personal opinion and not that of the BJP's. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also said the government has full confidence in Subramanian and that the economist had often provided the Centre with "valuable insights". While speaking to the media, he added that, "One has to ponder as to what extent one should attack officers whose office constrains them from responding."
Swamy's attack on Subramanian comes soon after he severely criticised Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, who on June 18 announced that he will not take a second term after his tenure ends on September 4.
In a testimony filed to the US Congress, the Narendra Modi-appointed economist had said that the US should approach the World Trade Organisation against India's stringent pharmaceutical norms under IPR. According to him, Delhi needs to tweak its patent laws, which are often frivolous and lead to widespread malpractice.
However, Subramanian's stand regarding the issue dates back to March 2013, over a year before he was appointed to the top job by the NDA government. "The virtue of using WTO dispute settlement was that it would be diplomatically and politically less confrontational than unilateral and bilateral actions," he said, justifying his views.
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