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Swaminathan Gurumurthy

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S. Gurumurthy
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Chartered accountant
Editor of a weekly
Columnist
One of the Reserve Bank of India board of directors [1]

Swaminathan Gurumurthy (born 1949)[2] is the editor of the Tamil political weekly magazine Thuglak.[3] Gurumurthy is a part-time director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).[4]

Gurumurthy is a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue.[5][6][7] He is a Chartered Accountant by profession.[7] He is the co-convenor of the RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagaran Manch.[8]

Personal life

[edit]

He was born to a Vadama Tamil Brahmin family[9] at South Arcot District (Madras Presidency).[10]

Activism

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He is considered to be a Hindu nationalist ideologue;[11] he has mentioned that he is not into electoral politics based on inputs from Swami Chandrasekharendra Saraswati.[12]

He exposed the aggressive corporate expansion by Dhirubhai Ambani and believed Ambani's business practices were unhealthy for the nation. Goenka entrusted Gurumurthy with fighting and exposing Reliance Industries. Gurumurthy's articles in The Indian Express created stirs in the corporate world as they publicly denounced a culture of corruption within the troubled conglomerate.[13] India Today magazine ranked him 30th in India's 50 most powerful people of 2017 list.[14]

He has written articles in The New Indian Express highlighting the disadvantages of globalization.[15] His articles espoused the mission of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the RSS as well as an uncompromising commitment to the unity of India.[16]

He was the subject of media coverage when he publicly accused two then-senior Indian bureaucrats of being American moles. He indirectly named them in the New Indian Express article titled, "US plots Gujral-Sharif show" dated 20-09-1997.[17] Later, in his article "Not one mole, Mr Prime Minister and Mr Jaswant, but Two!" dated 27-07-2006, he explicitly named Dr. V S Arunachalam and Naresh Chandra Saxena as the two moles.[18]

Gurumurthy has been a regular columnist at The New Indian Express.[19]

Politics

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Gurumurthy has never contested any election. In the 2014 General Election another person, a namesake of Gurumurthy who spelled his name differently ("S Gurumoorthy") was chosen by the Bharatiya Janata Party as its candidate in the Nilgiris parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu. Gurumurthy denied that he was the candidate in Nilgiris through tweets and interviews. The 4 September 2014 issue of The Hindu carried a news item titled, "Baffled by the unexpected spotlight,"[20] in which it said "First his friends called to congratulate him for contesting from Nilgiris Lok Sabha Constituency. Even as he explained that he was not in the fray, another round of calls came on Monday from many who wondered why his nomination papers were rejected. Gurumurthy, Chartered Accountant and columnist, was baffled when his photo was flashed in some television channels which claimed that he was the BJP's candidate in the Nilgiris constituency." The New Indian Express on 8 April 2014 published a clarification, "1 Name, 2 Persons, Too Many Queries", for various news channel's faux pas in mentioning chartered accountant, S Gurumurthy as the candidate who was disqualified from Nilgiris.[21]

Influence on the AIADMK

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Gurumurthy in December 2017, in a tweet called Chief Minister K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam as "impotent leaders" for their action against the supporters of TTV Dhinakaran, when AIADMK lost the RK Nagar Polls. Later he said had used the term, "impotent," in a political context.[22] Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said he would take legal action against Gurumurthy, if necessary, for his grossly offensive views.[23]

Gurumurthy fuelled a controversy in November 2019 when he claimed in a speech that he was the one who ignited revolt in the AIADMK party, which prompted Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to carry out 'dharmayudham' (a war for justice) after Jayalalitha's death in 2017.[24] Gurumurthy's also revealed that he told O. Pannerselvam that he was not "man enough" to take on the V.K Sasikala's faction after Jayalalithaa's death.[25] He continued to criticize the ruling government of AIADMK, calling it "a gang of robbers. This received him criticism from the AIADMK. Later he clarified that he only said that why the AIADMK workers were so spineless for prostrating at Sasikala's feet. This created yet another round of criticisms.[24][26]

Rajinikanth's politics

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Gurumurthy was also known as Rajinikanth's 'advisor', has been known to be as someone who pushed for Rajinikanth to join politics. A political analyst said, "It was Gurumurthy who wanted Rajinikanth in politics more than Rajinikanth himself. The long term plan was to make way for a non Dravidian party option and create a vote bank for BJP." After Rajinikanth announced that he would not be joining politics due to health complications, Gurumurthy said that Rajinikanth would still make a 'political impact' in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.[27]

In the media

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Gurumurthy created a controversy when he said that only 30% of the women are feminine in India during a speech at a hospital in Chennai in August 2019.[28] He also said that femininity has diminished in the present day women and the number of feminine women in India has decreased and women who are not feminine have become more. He also said women in femininity are like deities and he cannot accept women who are not feminine as deities.[29] The speech received wide range of criticism.[30] The All India Democratic Women's Association protested in Puliyakulam against him for his comments on women.[31]

Gurumurthy used the Tamil phrase "Kazhisadai" (transl. scum/filth) to refer to government bank staff in a derogatory manner at Thuglak magazine's anniversary event in Chennai in May 2022. His remarks drew criticism from a number of leaders of opposition, bank officials and bank unions including the RBI employees union.[32][33] The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) called for his dismissal from the board in RBI.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Reserve Bank of India - About Us".
  2. ^ "How S Gurumurthy brought the Sangh to politics and economics".
  3. ^ Mano. "Thuglak.com, Latest News, Cartoon, Politics, Tamil Magazine, weekly Magazine". thuglak. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  4. ^ https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/govt-re-nominates-four-members-of-rbi-s-central-board-122081101176_1.html [bare URL]
  5. ^ "'Self-reliant India' Is A Dynamic Concept, It Will Never Remain Static: RSS Ideologue S Gurumurthy". outlookindia.com. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Gurumurthy appointed to the board of RBI". The Hindu. 7 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b "RSS Ideologue S Gurumurthy Appointed to Board of Reserve Bank of India".
  8. ^ "Who is S Gurumurthy? Swadeshi ideologue who supported demonetization is RBI's new part-time director". Financialexpress. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  9. ^ "A paradigm shift". India Today. 25 November 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  10. ^ "The Importance and Unimportance of S. Gurumurthy". The Wire. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Can the World's Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government?". 9 May 2019.
  12. ^ "How Gurumurthy may change the RBI".
  13. ^ Hamish McDonald (1999). The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86448-468-7.
  14. ^ "India's 50 powerful people". India Today. 14 April 2017.
  15. ^ "A Debate on GATT". 15 January 1994. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  16. ^ "S. GURUMURTHY". Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  17. ^ "US plots Gujral-Sharif show". 20 September 2007. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  18. ^ "Not one mole, Mr Prime Minister and Mr Jaswant, but Two!". 27 July 2006. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  19. ^ "S. GURUMURTHY".
  20. ^ "Baffled by the unexpected spotlight". The Hindu. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  21. ^ Express News Service (8 April 2014). "1 Name, 2 Persons, Too Many Queries". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  22. ^ "War of words erupts over Gurumurthy's comments". The Hindu. 27 December 2017. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  23. ^ TNM Staff (27 December 2017). "'Only impotent talk about impotency': TN minister slams S Gurumurthy for comments". thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  24. ^ a b Nath, Akshaya; Vasudevan, Lokpria (25 November 2019). "RSS ideologue Gurumurthy claims he was the reason that sparked revolt in AIADMK, clarifies later". India Today. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  25. ^ Rao, Manasa (25 November 2019). "'Referred to all of AIADMK': Gurumurthy backtracks on OPS comment". thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  26. ^ "After his controversial 'man enough' comment on OPS, RSS ideologue backtracks". The Week. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  27. ^ "Rajinikanth says not entering politics, his 'advisor' Gurumurthy says 1996 will repeat". The News Minute. 29 December 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  28. ^ "இந்தியாவில் பெண்மை உள்ள பெண்கள் 30% பேர்தான்: எஸ்.குருமூர்த்தி சர்ச்சை பேச்சு". Dinamani (in Tamil). 25 August 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  29. ^ ""பெண்மையை நாம் இழந்து வருகிறோம்"- குருமூர்த்தி". Puthiyathalaimurai (in Tamil). Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  30. ^ I, Shyamsundar (25 August 2019). "இந்தியாவில் பெண்மை உள்ள பெண்கள் 30% பேர்தான் உள்ளனர்.. எஸ்.குருமூர்த்தி சர்ச்சை பேச்சு.. வைரல்!". tamil.oneindia.com (in Tamil). Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  31. ^ Team, SimpliCity News (28 August 2019). "All India Democratic Women's Association protest against Thuglaq editor Gurumoorthy for criticising women". simplicity.in. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  32. ^ "RSS idealogue's barb on bank employees: Unions call for his resignation from RBI Board". 14 May 2022.
  33. ^ "Bank Unions Demand Gurumurthy's Sacking From RBI Board for Offensive Comments Against Bank Employees". NewsClick. 24 May 2022.
  34. ^ Bureau, Dt Next. "Bank Association urges centre to remove Gurumurthy from RBI Board". DT next. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)

Shri S Gurumurthy is a member of the Selection Jury of Mahaveer Awards presented by Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation. [1]

  1. ^ "Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation announced winners for the 24th Mahaveer Awards 2021".
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