CII Prez dubs Swamy's criticism of CEA as 'noise'

Describing BJP MP Subramanian Swamy's remarks against Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian as "noise" in a democracy, industry body CII's President Naushad Forbes today said people should not judge India on the basis of a politician's "outlandish" statements.
Calling Arvind "as one of the finest brains" among economists, officials of Confederation of Indian Industry said as a vibrant economy, India must welcome talent from all parts of the world and underscored that government would have taken into consideration all issues before appointing him as the Chief Economic Advisor.
"If you are asking me about his tweets, I would describe Subramanian Swamy as the noise in our noisy democracy. It is a part of vibrancy of our democracy that you hear all kinds of statements and frankly you should not judge India on the basis of any politician's outlandish statements," Forbes told reporters

here.
After attacking RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, who has said no to a second term as the central bank's head, the BJP leader has now trained his guns on Arvind Subramanian and demanded his sacking.
Swamy tweeted that it is Arvind Subramanian who encouraged Congress to become rigid on GST (Goods and Services Tax) clauses, apparently referring to CEA panel recommendations on GST.

In his second tweet, he had alleged that Subramanian had encouraged the US Congress to act against India to defend the interests of US Pharmaceutical companies.
Forbes said since India's is the most robust economy in the world, it is necessary to welcome talents from various parts of the world.

"In terms of this particular issue, I think every country benefits from attracting talent from everywhere, and we are the most vibrant economy in the world. I repeat, we must welcome talent. We must make talent comfortable and get the best out of it," he said.
Commenting on one of the tweets seeking Subramanian's sacking, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said he has not gone into the details of Swamy's allegations, but the industry's experience with him had been good.
Banerjee said "Subramanian's report on GST itself answers a big part of the question, and his comments on different points of history about Indian economy needs to be seen in perspective."

"We have been working very closely with him and we have seen that he is one of the finest brains as far as an economist is concerned," he said.
Reacting to the second tweet by Swamy, Forbes said the government would have taken these things into consideration before appointing him as the Chief Economic Advisor.