NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday finally said it doesn't agree with at least one of
Subramanian Swamy's opinions - that is, that
Arvind Subramanian
, chief economic advisor (CEA), should be sacked because he is anti-India.
Not only did the
BJP say it disagrees with its MP, it also came out in active support of CEA Subramanian.
"Government has full confidence in CEA Arvind Subramanian, he has provided valuable insights from time to time," finance minister
Arun Jaitley said.
Incidentally, Swamy has made no secret of the fact that he thinks he's best suited to be India's finance minister. No word yet on what FM Jaitley thinks about that.
BJP disagrees with Swamy"The party does not agree with his (BJP MP Swamy's) views. This is completely his personal opinion," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said at a press conference, after Swamy, in a series of tweets Wednesday morning, demanded that Subramanian be sacked.
Swamy's trope has by now become familiar - prove anti-nationalism by citing a person's residency and his/her alleged closeness to the US. The BJP MP did that with Reserve Bank of India governor
Raghuram Rajan starting in May, and on Wednesday he started in on Subramanian.
"Arvind Subramanian a Trojan horse"Swamy cited the CEA's views on issues like
Intellectual Property Rights
to make a case that that he isn't fit to hold office.
"Who said to US Cong(ress) on 13/3/13 the US should act against India to defend US Pharmaceuticals interests? Arvind Subramanian MoF !! Sack him!!!," the BJP MP tweeted.
He then asked Twitter about Subramanian, who is an NRI - "Now PTs (Patriotic Tweeples) can understand why our core economic sectors could not perform last two years. Trojan horses galore in MoF/Fin Institutions."
"Was AS (Arvind Subramanian) deposing before US Cong(ressional) Committee against India as a US citizen or Indian? Does any PT know?," Swamy hammered on.
The maverick BJP MP used similar tactics to attack RBI governor while demanding he not be given a second term.
This past weekend, the RBI governor said he isn't open to another term as he is returning to academics.
With inputs from Agencies