name	Subramanian Swamy
Office1	President, Janata Party
Term start1	1989
Office2	Minister of Commerce and Industry
Primeminister2	Chandra Shekhar Singh
Term start2	1990
Term end2	1991
Office3	Minister of Law and Justice(Additional Charge)
Primeminister3	Chandra Shekhar Singh
Term start3	1990
Term end3	1991
Office4	Member of the Rajya Sabha
Term start4	1988
Term end4	1994
Term start5	1974
Term end5	1976
Office6	Member of the Lok Sabha
Term start6	1998
Term end6	1999
Term start7	1980
Term end7	1984
Term start7	1977
Term end7	1979
Birth date	September 15, 1939
Birth place	Mylapore, Madras Presidency, British India
Party	Janata Party
religion	Hindu
alma mater	Hindu College, University of Delhi (B.S.)Indian Statistical Institute (M.S.)Harvard University (Ph.D.)
profession	EconomistProfessorAuthorPolitician
spouse	Dr. Roxna Swamy
daugher	Dr. Gitanjali Swamy
Website	Official Website }}

Subramanian Swamy (; born 15 September 1939 in Chennai, India sometimes spelt Subramaniam Swamy) is an Indian politician, a patriot, academician and an economist. He is the President of the Janata Party of India. He also presently serves as chairman of the SCMS Board of Governors of the SCMS Group of Educational Institutions in Kerala.

Swamy has previously served as member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of India. He has written extensively on foreign affairs dealing largely with India-China, India-Pakistan and Indo-Israel relation and is also a published author.

In November 1978, Swamy was member of the Group of Eminent persons called to Geneva to prepare a report of the United Nations (UNCTAD) on Economic Co-operation between Developing countries (ECDC).Swamy simplified trade procedures and formulated a new export strategy which became the forerunner of trade reform adopted subsequently. In 1994, Swamy was appointed as Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade by then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. This was perhaps for the first time that a Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party.

He is also known for his anti corruption activism.

Early life and education

Subramanian Swamy was born in Mylapore, Chennai, India. His father Sitaram Subramanian is from Madurai, Tamil Nadu who was an Indian Statistical Service officer and retired as Director of the Central Statistical Institute. His mother Padmavati Subramanian belongs to Kerala Iyer family from Trichur, Kerala.

He attended Hindu College, University of Delhi, from where he earned his Bachelor Honours degree in Mathematics. He studied for his Masters degree in Statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute. He then went to study at Harvard University on a full Rockefeller scholarship. He received a Ph.D. in Economics in 1965. His thesis adviser was Nobel Laureate Simon Kuznets.

For some time, while completing his dissertation in 1963, he worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York as an Assistant Economics Affairs Officer. He subsequently worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House at Harvard university.

Academic career

Professorships

In 1964, Swamy joined the faculty of economics at Harvard and since then has taught in the Department of Economics. He began as an assistant professor and in 1969 became an associate professor. When he was Associate Professor at Harvard University, he was invited by Noble Laureate Amartya Sen for reader’s chair on Chinese studies at Delhi School of Economics. He accepted the offer and came back. However, when he arrived for the position at DSE, his appointment was cancelled due to his views on the nuclear capabilities for India and market friendly attitude. Thereafter, he moved to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and alongside to his teaching duties, he took special interest in talking to the hostel students. From 1969 to 1991, he was a Professor of mathematical economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He was removed from the position by its board of Governors in the early 1970s but was legally reinstated in the late 1990s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position until 1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977–80), and on the Council of IITs (1980–82).

He taught economics courses in summer session at Harvard until 2011. In December 2011, the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences removed his course from the Harvard Summer School course offerings in response to a controversial article he wrote, effectively ceasing his employment at Harvard.

Political career

Early politics

Swamy's career started with his involvement in Jayaprakash Narayan's Sarvodaya movement, which was an apolitical movement but which formed the foundation of the creation of Janta Party later.. The real turn in his political career came after his sacking from IIT. Liberal economic policies put forward by him didn't go well with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who discredited him as 'Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas'. As a result he was expelled from Indian Institute of Technology. This marked the beginning of his active political career. Staunch opponent of Indira Gandhi and right wing political party Jansangh sent him to Rajya Sabha - the upper house of Indian Parliament.

He was elected Member of Parliament 5 times between 1974 and 1999. He has twice represented the city of Mumbai North East during 1977 and 1980, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Parliament.

During the period of emergency, he fled to America, seeking save haven with a Indian businessman in Michigan who had become the spokesperson of opposition in the US. In 1976 when emergency was still in force and an arrest warrant issued in his name, he came to parliament to attend the session and managed to escape India after attending the session. This act made him a hero in the eyes of opposition parties.

He was one of the founding members of the Janata Party and has been its president since 1990.

Minister of Commerce and Law of India

Economic Reforms in India

During 1990 and 1991 Swamy was a member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Law of India. During this period he created the blueprint for economic reforms in India under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar which was later carried out in 1991 by Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister under leadership of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. The current Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh recently stated that Dr. Swamy was the first to envisage and articulate the need for reforms in India.

Between 1994 and 1996, he held the position of "Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade" (equivalent to the rank of a cabinet minister) under the P. V. Narasimha Rao government. Dr. Swamy has been subject to several defamation cases. He is known to argue these cases himself without the agency of lawyers. In October 2004, he along with other members of the erstwhile Janata Party established the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose the policies of the ruling UPA.

Issues held and contributions

Foreign policy and affairs

China and India

He is known for his efforts in normalizing relations between China and India. In 1981, Indira Gandhi sought his help and upon which he persuaded Deng Xiaoping to open the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet to the Hindu pilgrims from India. He became the first Indian on the reopening to visit Kailash and Mansarovar in 1981. In 1990–1991, he was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet and was in charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Law and Justice.

Israel

In his speeches and articles, Dr Swamy has expressed his admiration for Israel, and has credited its retaliatory capacity for its ability to survive in a hostile Arab environment. He made pioneering efforts at establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1982, Dr. Swamy became the first Indian political leader to make publicized trip to Israel, where he met with some important Israeli leaders such as Yitzhak Rabin and then Prime Minister Menachem Begin. His efforts at normalizing relations with Israel have borne fruit now with India's decision in 1992 to open Embassies in the respective countries.

Revealing 2G spectrum scam

In November 2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote the first of five letters to PM Manmohan Singh seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja in regards to the 2G spectrum scam. However, Singh took no action, leading Swamy to file a case on his own in the Supreme Court of India regarding the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a detailed report on the matter. He further called on the Indian government to re-auction the 2G spectrum without the involvement of Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.

Swamy has raised allegations that Sonia Gandhi's two sisters Anushka and Nadia have received sixty percent of the kickbacks in the 2G spectrum scam, amounting to Rs.18,000 crores each. On 15 April 2011, he filed a 206-page long petition with PM Singh seeking permission to prosecute Gandhi. In the petition, he claimed to have strong evidence of corrupt acts committed by Gandhi as early as 1972; he also raised doubts regarding her acquisition of Indian citizenship. At a lecture on corruption given on 29 May 2011, he again repeated his allegation against Sonia Gandhi, saying she has Rs.1 lakh crore stashed abroad. Most of Swamy's letters to the prime minister regarding this matter are backed up with full proof, which makes him defensive about his allegations.

Swamy filed various documents in the court to prosecute Minister of Home Affairs P.Chidambaram by including a January 15, 2008 letter written by Chidambaram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swamy also placed on record the certified copy of the minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram, Raja and the Prime Minister during the tenure of Raja as the MOC&IT. After supreme court verdict cancelling all 122 licences awarded during A Raja tenure, Cho Ramaswamy described Subramanian swamy as not only man of the match but man of the series.

Supreme court petition in 2G scam

On January 31, 2012, the Supreme Court of India accepted Swamy's petition against the Prime Minister's Office in the 2G case, saying that all public authorities should give a sanction within 3 months against any public official if a request is made for prosecution. The Supreme Court said that Subramanian Swamy had the locus to seek sanction from the Prime Minister for the prosecution of A Raja in the 2G scam. Sanction by a competent authority for the prosecution of a public servant has to be granted within a time frame, the apex court said. Justice A K Ganguly said that the sanction would be deemed to be granted if competent authority failed to take a decision within four months. Swamy's arguments were that he wrote to the PMO on November 29, 2008 but it was only on March 19, 2010 the PMO replied that the plea made by Swamy was "premature" as investigation was being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Raja was arrested by the CBI in the case and is presently lodged in Tihar jail

Views on Kashmir

In September 2008, Dr. Swamy stridently retorted against the contentions of some Indian columnists who voiced their opinions in favour of "''peacefully''" surrendering Kashmir to Pakistan. He said,

:"I would say that the silent suffering majority of India wants none of this. The ‘Kashmir issue,’ in fact, can no more be solved by dialogue either with the Pakistanis or the Hurriyat, leave alone the constitutional impossibility of allowing it to secede. [...]Kashmir, in fact, is now our defining identity. It is a touchstone for our resolve to preserve our national integrity. The population of that State may be majority Muslim but the land and its history is predominantly Hindu. For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilisation of India and the composite culture that secularists talk of, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war but also resolve never to part with Kashmir. [...]

:I will not blame the jihadis for the coming war. They are, after all, programmed that way by their understanding of Islamist theology. I will blame ourselves for not understanding their understanding of the fundamentals of Islam. [...]

:Pakistanis often cite the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir to argue for a plebiscite. This obfuscates the fact of accession of the State to India. The legality of the Instrument of Accession signed in favour of India by the then Maharaja of J&K, Hari Singh, on October 26, 1947 has to prevail anyway. '''"

Controversial Article and Its Impacts

Article about 2011 Mumbai bombings

In response to the 2011 Mumbai bombings, he wrote an editorial in ''Daily News and Analysis'' (''DNA'') Some of Swamy’s Controversial suggestions in the article.

The Hindu is the target and that Muslims of India are being programmed by a slow reactive process to become radical and thus slide into suicide against Hindus.

Remove Article 370, and re-settle ex-servicemen in the Valley. Create Panun Kashmir for Hindu Pandit community. Look or create opportunity to take over PoK. If Pakistan continues to back terrorists, assist the Baluchis and Sindhis to struggle for independence.

Remove the masjid in Kashi Vishwanath temple complex, and 300 others in other sites as a tit-for-tat.

Make Sanskrit learning compulsory and singing of Vande Mataram mandatory, and declare India as Hindu Rashtra in which only those non-Hindus can vote if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors are Hindus. Rename India as Hindustan as a nation of Hindus and those whose ancestors are Hindus.

Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hindu religion to any other religion.

Propagate the development of a Hindu mindset . Swamy had written a similar column in ''The New Indian Express'' after the ''2008 Mumbai attacks''.

Negative reactions

His column provoked a variety of reactions. His house was attacked by people alleged to be Congress party workers. Minorities Council of Maharashtra Vice Chairman Abraham Mathai and National Commission for Minorities chairman Wajahat Habibullah accused him of violating Indian Penal Code Section 153A. New Delhi law student Shehzad Poonawala attempted to lodge an FIR against him at Defence Colony police station, but was disallowed by the officer on duty. ''DNA'' published two hostile response columns by Rakesh Sharma and Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr. calling him a "Hindu Taliban", "maverick", and "Zionist" in response to his views.

Controversy at Harvard

Some students at his alma mater Harvard University, where he also teaches economics in the summer school, accused him of stoking communalism and circulated a petition calling on the university to fire him and publicly repudiate his remarks. Two PhD students, Umang Kumar and Sanjay Pinto, started an online petition asking for the removal of courses taught by Dr Swamy, which received more than 450 signatures from students and faculty. Adam Kissel, on behalf of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, wrote in a letter to Harvard that a disciplinary investigation against him would be inappropriate for an academic institution dedicated to intellectual freedom, represented a threat to free speech, and could lead to self-censorship by other faculty members.

In response to the petition, Donald H. Pfister, dean of Harvard Summer School, stated that the school would "give this matter our serious attention", and decided to stand by its instructor. On Tuesday, 6 December 2011, the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to exclude Subramanian Swamy's summer school courses from its catalog. The Op-Ed was considered more to be a case of hate speech rather than free speech. 'I was persuaded... that the views expressed in Dr Swamy's op-ed piece amounted to incitement of violence instead of protected political speech,' Philosophy Department Chair Sean D Kelly wrote in an e-mail to the Crimson. Comparative Religion Professor Diana Eck said, "Swamy's op-ed [piece] clearly crosses the line by demonising an entire religious community and calling for violence against their sacred places". Swamy described the move as "nothing serious", saying "non-economists at Harvard don't like my views on how to protect India".

Views on Tamil Nadu Politics

He is well known for his critical views against the Government of Tamil Nadu and against the "Aryan versus Dravidian" brand of divisive politics of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy.

He was staunch opponent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

He obtained Supreme Court Stay against the implementation of Sethu Samuthiram Shipping Channel project (SSSCP). He believes that it would hurt the sentiments of people who believe that this shallow land connecting between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka was built by Lord Rama. He strongly opposes the implementation of SSSCP citing that implementing this scheme may affect the sentiments of Hinduism. He wrote letters to Prime Minister of India in June 2009 asking him to stop the project.. He has also strongly urged the Supreme Court of India to declare this Rama-Sethu as a National heritage & historical monument.

Family and Personal life

Dr.Swamy married Dr. Roxna Swamy (a Parsi) in June 1966 whom he met at Harvard. Then she had obtained Ph.D in Maths who is presently an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. They have two daughters, Dr. Gitanjali Swamy who is married to Sanjay Sarma, a professor at MIT and Suhasini Haider, a senior editor at CNN-IBN is married to Nadeem Haidar who is a son of Salman Haider, former foreign secretary and external affairs minister. His brother-in-law is Jewish, his son-in-law Muslim, his sister-in-law Christian, and his wife Parsi.

Honours, awards and international recognition

! Year !! Name !! Awarding organization !! Ref.
2012	Indrayani Award.	Indrayani Cooperative bank.

Books, Research Papers and Journals

Subramanian Swamy is a published author of several books, research papers and journals. A complete list of papers, books and journals is included below to which he is the author.

Books

Economic Growth in China and India, 1952–70 (Publisher: University of Chicago Press; ISBN 9780226783154)

Indian economic planning;: An alternative approach (Publisher: Barnes & Noble; ISBN 9780389042020)

Building a New India: An Agenda for National Renaissance (Publisher: South Asia Books; ISBN 9788185674216)

India's Labour Standards and the WTO Framework (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 9788122005851)

India's economic performance and reforms: A perspective for the new millennium (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 9788122005943)

Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: Unanswered Questions and Unasked Queries (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 9788122005912)

India's China perspective (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 9788122006063)

Financial Architecture and Economic Development in China and India (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 9788122007183)

Trade and Industry in Japan: A Guide to Indian Entrepreneurs and Businessmen (Publisher: Prentice-Hall of India; ISBN 9788120307858)

Sri Lanka in Crisis: India's Options (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 9788124112601)

Kailas and Manasarovar after 22 years in Shiva's domain (Publisher: Allied Publishers)

Hindus Under Siege (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 9788124112076)

Rama Setu: Symbol of National Unity (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 9788124114186)

Terrorism in India: A Strategy of Deterrence for India's National Security (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 9788124113448)

Corruption and Corporate Governance in India: Satyam, Spectrum & Sundaram (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 9788124114865)

2G Spectrum Scam (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 9788124116388)

Electronic voting machines: unconstitutional and tamperable (Publisher: Vision Books; ISBN 9788170947981)

Article, Research Papers and Journals

Article

Can India make it? India's path to sustained growth (Publisher: Harvard Asia Pacific review, Volumes 6-8 by Harvard University. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, 2002)

The response to economic challenge: A comparative economic history of China and India, 1870-1952 (Publisher: The Quarterly journal of economics, Volume 93 by Harvard University by the MIT Press, 1979)

Research Papers

Economic growth and income distribution in a developing nation (Publisher: Harvard University, 1965)

Nuclear policy for India (Publisher: Bharatiya Jana Sangh Publication, 1968)

Plan for full employment (Publisher: Bharatiya Jana Sangh, 1970)

Theoretical aspects of index numbers (Publisher: Harvard Institute of Economic Research, 1985)

Land reforms: an economist's approach (Publisher: Deendayal Research Institute)

References

External links

Official Twitter Account @Swamy39

Bio-Data at Janata Party website

Official Biographical Sketch of Member of 12th Lok Sabha: Swamy

Others

Subramanian Swamy collected laws and court judgements at ''Indian Kanoon''

Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at ''India Today''

Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at ''The Times of India''

Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at ''Tehelka''

Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at ''The Hindu''

Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:People from Chennai Category:Indian Hindus Category:Indian economists Category:Indian politicians Category:Tamil Nadu politicians Category:Maharashtra politicians Category:Members of Parliament from Maharashtra Category:6th Lok Sabha members Category:7th Lok Sabha members Category:University of Delhi alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Indian Institute of Technology Delhi faculty Category:Harvard University faculty Category:English-language writers from India Category:Indian activists

hi:सुब्रह्मण्यम स्वामी ta:சுப்பிரமணியம் சுவாமி