Online petition seeking Raghuram Rajan's 2nd term goes viral; 42,000 votes and counting

Thousands of online signatures are backing the petition seeking 2nd term for RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: At a time when there is speculation over Raghuram Rajan's future, whose current three-year term as RBI chief ends this September, amid calls for his sacking by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, an online petition backing his 2nd term has gone viral.

The petitions, filed on change.org by Bengaluru based Rajesh Palaria a week ago has seen more than 42,000 votes and the signatures are increasing in number by the day. As of 11 pm we tried checking the petition and it showed 42,633 supporters so far. The number votes are increasing really fast.

Rajan's tenure for the second term has found backing among India's business and industrial corridors too. Coming out in support of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, leading industrialist Adi Godrej has said he is an admirer and it will be a "good thing for India" if his tenure is extended.

In January, Rajan was awarded the Central Banker of the Year Award (Global and Asia Pacific) for 2016 by the Financial Times Group's monthly publication 'The Banker'.

Earlier, Swamy had accused Rajan of being responsible for "unemployment and collapse" of industrial activity.

Finance Minister Minister Arun Jaitley last week refused to be drawn in to the matter of a second term for Rajan as the chief of the Central Bank, saying "these are not issues which we discuss through the media".

Jaitley has also said there is a "mature relationship" between the central bank and the government.

Indicating his interest in a second term, Rajan on May 13 had said he has enjoyed every moment of the job, but there is "more to do".

With PTI Inputs