Rahul Gandhi not a ‘pappu,‘ says Raghuram Rajan in Davos

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on January 18 hailed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He said the ‘ pappu’ image of Mr. Gandhi is “unfortunate” and the Wayanad MP is a “smart man.”

“I think the image is unfortunate. I have spent close to a decade interacting with them on many fronts. He [Rahul Gandhi] is in no way a pappu … He is a smart, young, curious man,” Rajan, who had joined the Wayanad MP during the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan in December, told India Today on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

“I think it is important to have a good sense of what the priorities are, the basic risks and the ability to evaluate them. I think he [Rahul Gandhi] is perfectly capable of doing that,” he added.

Telling the publication, he is not joining any party, Mr. Rajan said he walked with Gandhi as he believes in the values of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Rajan, a vocal critic of demonetisation and other economic policies, had blamed the Narendra Modi-led government’s “political and social agenda for the economic slowdown”.

He was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between September 2013 and September 2016. Between 2003 and 2006, he was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund.

Responding to the former RBI governor’s participation, BJP leader Amit Malviya had said Mr. Rajan “fancies himself as the next Manmohan Singh.”