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Subramanian Swamy

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Subramanian Swamy
President, Janata Party
Assumed office
1989
Union Cabinet Minister for Commerce and Industry
In office
1990–1991
Prime MinisterChandra Shekhar Singh
Union Cabinet Minister for Law and Justice
In office
1990–1991
Prime MinisterChandra Shekhar Singh
Member of the Rajya Sabha
Member of the Lok Sabha
Personal details
Born (1939-09-15) 15 September 1939 (age 84)
Mylapore, Chennai, British India
Political partyJanata Party
SpouseDr. Roxna Swamy
Alma materIndian Statistical Institute
Harvard University
ProfessionEconomist
Professor
Author
Politician

Dr. Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939 in Chennai, sometimes spelt Subramaniam Swamy) is presently the President of Janata Party. He is a politician and also a trained economist.

Childhood and education

Subramanian Swamy was born in Mylapore, Chennai, India into a Hindu Brahmin family. His father originally is from Madurai, Tamil Nadu and mother is from Tamil speaking family from Trichur, Kerala.

He studied his masters degree in statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute. He then went to study at Harvard University on a full Rockefeller scholarship. He did his doctoral research with two Nobel Laureates namely Simon Kuznets and Paul A Samuelson. Dr. Swamy has also jointly authored with Professor Samuelson a path breaking study on Index Number Theory. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics by Harvard University (Class of 1965).

For sometime, while completing his dissertation in 1963, he worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York as an Assistant Economics Affairs Officer. He subsequently worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House at Harvard.

Academic career

In 1964, Swamy joined the faculty of economics at Harvard and from then on he has till date taught at the Department of Economics. He was an assistant professor at the Harvard Economics department where he later became an Associate professor in 1969. Though he now does not teach full time at Harvard; he however has been regularly teaching for a long time and also currently teaches economics courses in summer session at Harvard in the position of a full rank Professor.[1]

From 1969 to 1991, he was a Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He was removed from the position by its board of Governors in the early 1970s but was legally reinstated in the late 1980s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position till 1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977–80), and on the Council of IITs (1980–82).

He is the chairman of School of Communication & Management Studies in Kerala, a premier business institute in India.

Comparative study

He is accounted by some to be an authority on the comparative study of India and China[2] and is also well-versed in the Mandarin Chinese (Hanyu) language.[3]

Political career

Role played during Indian Emergency

He first came into the spotlight for protesting against the emergency imposed in 1975. He went underground for a period of 6 months to avoid being arrested by police. Under the instruction of Jayaprakash Narayan, Swami escaped to US, so that he could mobilise overseas Indians and world media against the emergency.

Elections contested

He was one of the founding members of the Janata Party and was its president since 1990. He was elected Member of Parliament 5 times between 1974 and 1999. He has twice represented the city of Mumbai North East during 1977 and 1980, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Parliament. He is regarded as a proponent of Hindutva.

He was also a member of the Planning Commission between 1990 and 1991. Between 1994 and 1996, he held the position of Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade (equivalent to the rank of a cabinet minister) under the P. V. Narasimha Rao government. Dr. Swamy has been subject to several defamation cases. He is known to argue these cases himself without the agency of lawyers. In October 2004, he along with other members of the erstwhile Janata Party established the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose the policies of the ruling UPA.

Issues Held

China and India

He is known for his efforts in normalizing relations with China and Israel. In 1981, he persuaded Deng Xiaoping[4] to open the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet to the Hindu pilgrims from India.[5] He became the first Indian on the reopening to visit Kailash and Mansarovar in 1981. In 1990-1991, he was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet and was in charge of the ministries of Commerce and Law and Justice.

2G spectrum scam

On November, 2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and followed it up with four more letters seeking sanction to prosecute A. Raja in regards to 2G telecom spectrum political corruption scam.[6]

When the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh didn't take any decision,[7] Swamy went to Supreme Court. On 27 November 2010 Subramanian Swamy announced that he will file a criminal case against former union minister A. Raja[8] in the 2G Spectrum Scam before the Special Court for Corruption Cases in connection with the charges of irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. He later said that under Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code, he would name the other “beneficiaries” in the scam. Until today, this scam has resulted to be the most historic and the biggest in the history of India.

The 2G spectrum scam involved officials in the government of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to create 2G subscriptions for cell phones. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on money collected from 2G licenses, the loss to the exchequer was ₹176,379 crore (US$21 billion). The Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record [With Case type:Writ Petition (Civil),Case No:10, Year:2011].[9] The Comptroller and Auditor-General's report had put the presumptive loss to the government at Rs.1.75 lakh crore, but according to Dr. Swamy, the gratification shared would be only about Rs.60,000 crore. Kapil Sibal has however disputed that the Comptroller and Auditor General's presumptive loss estimate in the allocation of 2G spectrum. He said that the methodology used was "utterly erroneous" in pegging Rs 1.76 lakh crore (US$40 billion) as the notional loss while awarding airwaves for 2G phone services in 2008.

Subramanian Swamy adviced the Government of India that it should re-auction 2G spectrum after the Supreme Court issued notice to the union government and 11 firms in the alleged scam in the allocation of airwaves.[10]

2G spectrum scam: Allegations against Sonia Gandhi

Swamy alleges that Sonia Gandhi's two sisters, Anushka and Nadia has received sixty percent of the kickbacks in 2G spectrum scam i.e. Rs.18,000 crores each.[11][12][13]

Boston Airport arrest for detainment: Rahul Gandhi

On September 21, 2001 at Boston Airport Rahul Gandhi and his Spanish girlfriend Veronique Cartelli[14] were detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 9 hours for questioning, and verification if Mr. Gandhi was carrying $200,000 in cash which he was unable to explain to the airport authorities.

Subramanian Swamy filed a Freedom of Information Act (United States): Freedom of Information Act application with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for investigation of records. FBI told Swamy that they would hand over the investigation records if he got a "no objection certificate" from Rahul Gandhi. In request of the same, Swmay wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi saying if he had nothing to hide then give him the permission for investigation. Rahul Gandhi received the mail but never replied back to him.

Critical views on Tamil Nadu

He is well known for his critical views against the Government of TamilNadu and against the rationalist views of E.V.R Ramaswamy. He is a constant fighter for the revival of hidutva in Tamil Nadu.

All Caste Becomes Priest Act. Tamil Nadu, 2006

The bill in the Assembly of Tamil Nadu in 2006 laid the foundation for bringing the social reform of enabling every Hindu,and Dalits without any discrimination by caste, to become archakas in Hindu Temples.[15] The Governments plan was to demolish caste barriers in the State by training non-Brahmins to become archaka (priests) and offering them jobs in temples that come under the purview of the State Government.[16] The Government order has been challenged by the Adi Saiva Sivacharyargal Nala Sangam, Thennindia Thirukkoil Archagargal Paripalana Sabhai and other such hereditary priests’ organisations in the Supreme Court and secured a stay against the order. The case is pending in the court.Subramanya Swamy advocating against this act and instrumental in getting a stay from the court for implementation of Tamil Nadu all caste becomes Priest Act.[17][18]

LTTE issue

He is staunch opponent of LTTE.[19][20]

Sethu Samuthiram Shipping Channel

He obtained Supreme Court Stay against the implementation of Sethu Samuthiram Shipping Channel project(SSCCP) a long dream of Tamil People for more than 100 years. He believes that this shallow land connecting between Tamil Nadu and Srilanka was build by Rama approximatly 1,26,000 years ago. He strongly oppose the implementation of SSCP citing that implementating this scheme may affect the sentiments of Brahminical Hinduism.He wrote letters to Prime Minister of India in June 2009 asking to stop this project after completing 60% of its planned work.[21] The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Karunanidi during his press release informed that this project was started after 50 years of careful research and stopping this project after 60% of its completion is a planned attack by Hindutva forces against the development of Tamilnadu[22]

Interference of Government in Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram

He represented priests in the court and against the appointment of commissioner, HRCE in Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu.[23] Swamy himself impleaded in an appeal filed by Podhu Deekshithars challenging the orders of a single judge upholding the appointment of an executive officer to the temple. While attending this case in High Court, Chennai, on 17, February, 2009 a group of advocates assaulted him and hurled eggs and invectives on him at the Madras High Court hall. Eggs were thrown at Swamy during this melee. One advocate smashed an egg at the back of Swamy.Two other eggs missed their target and fell on the table. Another egg hit Swamy’s forehead and broke up, splashing its contents on his face. Swamy, with the help of his junior lawyers, ran to safety and took refuge under the judges’ podium. Some threw rotten eggs inside the court hall and shouted filthy slogans. The slogans included `Brahmin dog down down’ and `Rajiv Gandhi killer go away.’[24]

Personal life

Subramanian Swamy has two daughters, Gitanjali Swamy and Suhasini Haider. Suhasini Haider is a journalist with the Indian television channel CNN-IBN. He is married to Dr. Roxna Swamy who is an advocate in the Supreme Court of India.

Books

Subramanian Swamy is the author of numerous books and writes regularly in various journals and newspapers. Some of his books are :-

  • Economic Growth in China and India (1989)
  • The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: unanswered questions and unasked queries (2000)
  • Hindus Under Siege (2006)
  • Corruption and Corporate Governance in India: Satyam, Spectrum, and Sundaram (2009)
  • Economic Development and Reforms in India and China (2010)

References

  1. ^ Swamy to teach at Harvard The Hindu - February 15, 2011
  2. ^ Prospects for India-U.S. relations better: Swamy The Hindu - January 23, 2008
  3. ^ About Dr. Subramanian Swamy
  4. ^ Myth and reality in India-China relations: Swamy The Hindu - September 17, 2009
  5. ^ Pilgrims' route The Tribune - September 26, 1998
  6. ^ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's inaction on 2G scam
  7. ^ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's inaction on 2G scam
  8. ^ CBI asked to file detailed report on 2G scam
  9. ^ http://courtnic.nic.in/supremecourt/casestatus_new/caseno_new.asp
  10. ^ Re-auction 2G spectrum, restrain Sibal: Subramanian Swamy
  11. ^ Sonia Gandhi's sisters received Rs18,000 crores : 2G Scam secrets: Subramanian Swamy
  12. ^ Letters to the Prime Minister of India by Subramanian Swamy
  13. ^ 2G scam: Why UPA fears a JPC
  14. ^ Vrinda Gopinath (April 28, 2004). My girlfriend is Spanish: Rahul Gandhi "My girlfriend is Spanish: Rahul Gandhi". Expressindia.com. Retrieved 7 April 2010. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tn-passes-bill-on-appointment-of-priests/11128/
  16. ^ http://www.hindu-blog.com/2008/04/revolutionary-change-dalit-hindu-temple.html
  17. ^ ibnlive.in.com/news/let-caste-be-no-bar-for-priests.../10647-4.html ibnlive.in.com/news/let-caste-be-no-bar-for-priests.../10647-4.html
  18. ^ http://www.dailypioneer.com/200712/Non-Brahmin-%E2%80%98priests%E2%80%99-left-in-the-lurch.html
  19. ^ Subramanian Swamy appears before tribunal examining LTTE ban The Times of India - Oct 28, 2010
  20. ^ LTTE part of the problem: Swamy The Hindu - Nov 13, 2008
  21. ^ http://thatstamil.oneindia.in/news/2009/06/18/tn-hold-sethu-project-implementation-says-swamy.html
  22. ^ http://thatstamil.oneindia.in/news/2009/06/18/tn-hold-sethu-project-implementation-says-swamy.html
  23. ^ Intellectuals seek highest security for Subramanian SwamyIntellectuals seek highest security for Subramanian Swamy
  24. ^ http://expressbuzz.com/Cities/Chennai/advocates-assault-subramanian-swamy/42867.html

References

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