Subramanian Swamy and His Long, Long List of Enemies

Swamy’s latest target is Chief Economic Advisor to the government, Arvind Subramanian.

Will Subramanian Swamy have the last laugh? (Photo: Reuters)

Subramanian Swamy is at it again. His scathing comments about Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, have riled up newsrooms, flooded subscribers’ mobile notifications and has already started to dominate television news debates.

Also Read: BJP Steers Clear of Swamy’s Remarks Against CEA Arvind Subramanian
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But this isn’t the first time (and perhaps not the last time) Subramanian ‘The Maverick’ Swamy has made his disapproval of fellow colleagues and public personas apparent.

Here’s a look at Swamy and his ever-expanding list of foes:

Raghuram Rajan

The most obvious member of this list is Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. The country is still reeling from Rajan’s surprise decision to step down after his term ends in September – a move largely believed to be connected to Swamy’s mounting attacks on him.

Swamy wrote three letters to the Prime Minister, asking Rajan to be sacked, calling him “mentally not fully Indian”.

Also Read: Raghuram Rajan ‘Mentally Not Fully Indian’ Writes Swamy to PM Modi

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan. (Photo: Reuters)

The Gandhis

Swamy’s relationship with the Gandhi family has been through its crests and troughs. There was a time when Swamy regarded Sonia Gandhi, J Jayalalithaa and Mayawati as the “three great ladies” of Indian politics.

Incidentally, he was the one to file the case against Sonia and son Rahul in the National Herald case, accusing them of misappropriation of funds from the newspaper.

But it was also Swamy who convinced the AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa to join hands with Sonia in 1999, which delivered a fatal blow to the then NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Swamy was also a vehement opponent of Indira Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi (left) and Rahul Gandhi. (Photo: Reuters)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The strained relationship between former Prime Minister Vajpayee and Swamy was no secret. In the Tamil weekly Kumudham, which serialised Swamy’s autobiography, he wrote:

“When the Morarji Desai-led Janata government came to power by defeating the Congress, many expected that I would get a cabinet berth for my outstanding resistance to the Emergency. But Atal Behari Vajpayee interfered and spoiled it.”

What’s more, Swamy even called Vajpayee a drunk!

“Morarji and Charan Singh are known for their morality. But some immoral elements in the Janata (regime) calculated their personal gain by creating a wedge between them. For instance, Vajpayee was embarrassed when Morarji sternly warned him to stop drinking.”

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. (Photo: Reuters)

Ram Jethmalani

The country’s two controversial lawyers, Jethmalani and Swamy, have often been pitted against each other.

Also Read:
Swamy vs Jethmalani: Who’s The Bigger Rebel?

Swamy once said Jethmalani had “two wives and many girlfriends”, which he maintained was a violation of the law.

Jethmalani wrote a scathing opinion piece in The Indian Express in 1998, and called Swamy a “diseased insect”.

But could it be that the two were friends at some point?

Subramanian Swamy (L) and Ram Jethmalani, March 1977, after the Lok Sabha elections. (Photo: Twitter)

J Jayalalithaa

Once close allies, things are visibly sour between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Swamy.

Swamy brought Jayalalithaa out of her state and onto the national front, after the famous tea party held at 10 Janpath (Sonia Gandhi’s residence), which brought Vajpayee’s NDA government down.

But Swamy was also the one to file the original disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa, for which she was acquitted by a Karnataka court in 2015.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. (Photo: Reuters)

And a Foe-Turned-Friend, the RSS

Swamy sees himself as a believer of Hindutva, “though not of the ‘hateful’ kind which is confrontational but the one that believes all Muslims and Christians were originally Hindus,” according to The Indian Express.

He was at one point a vehement critic of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In a Frontline article from 2000, Swamy wrote:

“I live on the hope that in India, no well-laid plan ever works. India after all, is a functioning anarchy. That has been the undoing of every attempt to straitjacket its society. That is why we are still the longest continuing unbroken civilisation of over 10,000 years. The RSS is, luckily, our counter-culture. The vibrations of Mother India will, I hope, be its undoing.”

But curiously Swamy has also been on the side of the party in pushing for the Ram Temple to be built in Ayodhya.

RSS activists hold bamboo sticks as they take part in a march. (Photo: Reuters)