Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said it will be “idiotic” to criticise the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India for originally being from Kenya. Swamy tweeted that it will be idiotic to think he would attack Urjit Patel because he was born in Kenya. The BJP leader had been very critical of outgoing governor Raghuram Rajan, and claimed he was “trying to wreck the Indian economy”.

When a Twitter user mentioned Patel’s Kenyan origin, Swamy said, “He is not a Kenyan citizen, but was. R3 [Raghuram Rajan] was born Indian and chose to continue his US green card even though in India from 2007.” Swamy had demanded Rajan’s suspension, claiming that he was mentally "not fully Indian”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that Rajan was a true patriot and that people who criticised him did “a great injustice to him”. “As much as I know Raghuram Rajan, whatever post he holds, wherever he is, he is someone who will continue to serve the country. He is someone who loves his country,” Modi had said.

Rajan announced on June 18 that he will not be taking a second term as RBI governor after his tenure ends on September 4.