The BJP-base’s arguments against Raghuram Rajan, who announced he would step down in September as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor — he had wanted to stick around but consultations with the government ruled that out — are that first, no individual is greater than an institution (“and India above all”, as one Yoda-type tweeted); second, according to a reporter close to BJP president Amit Shah, the party “believes the RBI Governor should not be foreign educated and an academic of a foreign university”; third, a newspaper close to Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor S Gurumurthy says that Rajan is no great shakes though he has not done any “severe damage” to the Indian economy; and fourth, there is plenty of talent available in India as an alternative.

True, no one is indispensable, though that was hardly the point; and true, India is brimming with talent, though it is strange that the union council of ministers remains, with exceptions, a noticeably talentless group. Various reasons are given for Rajan’s fall from grace — his characterisation of the relatively healthy Indian economy in a dismal global situation as the “one-eyed king in the world of the blind”, which commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman publicly denounced; his weighing in on the intolerance debate; his steadfast refusal to dramatically reduce interest rates despite the government’s friends (and four ministers) repeatedly urging it — but in the end, what probably did him in was the chorus for his extension. No government likes to be told what to do, particularly one that swears by paternalism. Citing factors like global credibility, and that billions that would follow Rajan out of the country, was not helpful. Possibly his well-wishers were reacting to the unseemly attacks by Subramanian Swamy, a recent arrival in the Rajya Sabha, but they should have known that Swamy was only His Master’s Voice.