'Concerned citizen': Raghuram Rajan explains why he joined Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan took part in the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra in December. While questions were raised around his political ambitions, the formed RBI chief has said that he took part in the yatra as a "concerned citizen".

He said that he did not take part in the Congress chief Rahul-Gandhi led yatra as a former servant or as an economist, but as a concerned citizen.

In a LinkedIn post that he shared on January 2, Rajan said that he walked a few miles to add his support to the committed citizens who are "walking the length of India to strengthen national unity and communal harmony".

"As we make our resolutions for the coming year, let us keep in mind that we all need to do more to preserve the India we love, and the world we cherish," he said in his post.

The former RBI chief also said that India as a country is being undermined by majoritarian populists, who sow distrust and divisiveness. "They incite the majority community to avenge historic wrongs that no one today bears responsibility for, even while inexorably centralizing power, and repressing data and criticism."

He also mentioned that the country has enough diversity to keep "hatemongers busy" for a long time and added that the forces of hate always look for new victims when the old ones have been finished off.

"Love, not hate, equality and justice, not cronyism and oppression, unity in diversity, not divisiveness, a vibrant argumentative democracy, not an intolerant police state, a cooperative world, not a world at war: these are all worth struggling for," he said in his post.

Rajan also said that the strength of the country lies in its reasoned debates that allow everyone to feel they contributed.

He went on to explain that India has enormous potential for the good, using its voice to support decency, tolerance, mutual respect, and dialogue.

"Sound economic policies, guided by informed debate based on accurate data, could make India an enormous contributor to global growth for decades to come," the post read.

Earlier the former RBI chief in an interview with Rahul Gandhi had said that 2023 will be difficult for the Indian economy as also for the rest of the world. He had mentioned that the country would be lucky to achieve a 5 per cent growth rate next year as key interest rates have gone up and exports have slowed down.

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