About Dr. Subramanian Swamy -
His father Sitaram Subramanian was director of Central Statistical Institute. Dr. Swamy himself did his bachelor's degree in mathematics (Honours) from Hindu College, New Delhi.
For his master’s, he enrolled at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata (then Calcutta), seat of the formidable Mahalanobis himself.
“It was here that I first felt prejudice,” he says, “Mahalanobis found out I was my father’s son, and I began to get lower grades than I deserved.” Mahalanobis had written a paper on derivatives for an international journal. As a post-graduate student, Swamy critiqued it and wrote a counter-paper suggesting Mahalanobis was not being original but had borrowed from the work of another mathematician who had done work on the subject a century earlier. The paper was accepted and published in the same journal. It won Swamy no friends at ISI but was noticed by a Harvard professor who offered the young student a fellowship.
AT HARVARD, Swamy had completed his PhD by 24 and moved into teaching. He co-authored a paper on the theory of index numbers with Paul Samuelson (Noble Prize in economics) and became something of a specialist on the Chinese economy.
He is self taught in Chinese and can read and write the language.
He has authored various world class books. Some of his prominent milestones in the academic world are books such as, 'Indian Economic Planning-An Alternative Approach' and 'Economic growth in China and India 1952-1970: A Comparative Appraisal' gave him critical acclaim. His joint paper on 'Theory of Index Numbers' is appreciated all over the world.
He is recognized internationally as an authority on the economy of China. Dr.Swamy till recently teached every summer session at Harvard two courses in Economics, one on mathematical methods, and another on China. He has been elected five times to Parliament since 1974 [three Lok Sabha, two Rajya Sabha] and has held senior Cabinet rank position twice [1990-91&1994-96].
In 1969, while he was associate professor, he was invited by Amartya Sen to join Delhi School of Economics (DSE). He packed his bags and came home. Between the invitation and the arrival, fellow-traveller academics at DSE had changed their minds on Swamy. He was seen as too market-friendly and too outspoken — he was already talking of a nuclear deterrent for India — and was offered only a reader’s rank. Indeed, the money sanctioned for the full professorial chair on Chinese studies — the position initially earmarked for Swamy — was returned by DSE to the University Grants Commission.
It was patently unfair and Swamy found support from sections of students. In a famous incident that old-timers at Delhi University still recall, Amit Mitra, now finance minister of West Bengal, bodily lifted Swamy at a gathering. He remains a Swamy favourite, indicating the man’s range of contacts.
Swamy then moved to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), teaching economics to students there, turning up at hostels to speak on politics and international issues and making a name for himself for his non-left views. He published what he called the ‘Swadeshi Plan’, arguing India didn’t need foreign aid and suggesting a market-friendly alternative to the Five-Year Plans.
With his approach, he said 10 percent growth rates were feasible, as were agricultural exports and a bigger defence budget. It was heresy. In March 1970, during the Parliament debate on the budget, then prime minister Indira Gandhi mentioned Swamy by name and dismissed him as a “Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas”.
Retribution was swift. At 5.15 pm on a December evening in 1972, Swamy was given a letter saying he had been sacked from IIT with effect from 5 pm. His wife, who taught mathematics, was also sacked. Swamy took IIT to court, eventually winning his case in 1991. He rejoined as a professor for one day and then resigned. He still has a case pending against IIT for a claim of salary arrears for the 1972-91 period, which he wants with 18 percent interest.
During 'Emergency' in 1975 by Indra Gandhi, Dr. Swamy was hounded by the Police with a warrant of arrest. Disguised as a Sikh, Swamy escaped to Chennai (Madras) and then Sri Lanka, flying to the United States where he became a spokesperson for India’s opposition and also took up a visiting professor’s assignment at Harvard.
On 10 August 1976 occurred perhaps the most dramatic episode of the Emergency. It was the opening day of the Monsoon Session. “I had been away from Parliament for six months,” Swamy recalls, “and could have lost my seat for non-attendance. There were also charges that I was enjoying life in America while my colleagues were in jail.” So Swamy returned, entered Parliament and slipped into his seat.
While the chairman of the House (then vice-president BD Jatti) was making the obituary references, Swamy got up and said, “I have a point of order. There is no obituary reference for democracy. It has also died.” A stunned Jatti muttered, “No point of order, no point of order.” He then asked members to stand in silence for those notables who had died recently. “He should have asked the marshal to grab me,” Swamy says, “because there was a warrant to my name.” In the confusion, with the rest of the House standing in silence, Swamy ran out.
In the 1980s, Dr.Swamy set about catalyzing India’s foreign policy changes from being utterly pro-Soviet to a more balanced policy with better relations with China, Israel and US. With Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s support he became the first ruling party politician to travel to China and Israel and hold discussion with top leaders of those two countries. In China he was received by Chairman Deng Xiao ping and in Israel by Prime Minister Menachim Begin, and the process of thaw in relations thus began with those two visits. Dr.Swamy also persuaded Chairman Deng to open the Mount Kailash–Manasarovar route in Tibet for Hindu pilgrims and in 1981 became the first Indian after 25 years to be allowed by China to trek to that holy spot. Since that effort by Dr.Swamy, every year 500 pilgrims are trekking to Kailash.
Dr. Swamy had also served as a Cabinet rank minister and a member of Planning Commission of India. He was also one of the eminent members of a delegation invited to Geneva by United Nations to develop a report on Economic Cooperation between Developing Countries. His emphasised steps were readily accepted as a new chapter to bring trade reforms. He is thus one of the founder members of World Trade Organization (WTO)
The present day economic liberalisation and reforms are a result of his far sighted and sharp vision.
When the Govt. of India hounded him for speaking the truth he taught himself Law and become a lawyer in Supreme Court. His wife Roxna Swamy (a Parsi) who he had met while she was doing a Phd in Mathematics at Harvard also studied law later to become a Supreme Court Advocate.
Before anyone decides to criticize Dr. Subramanian Swamy, make sure you are qualified enough to sit on Judgement on him.
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