Xenophobic Undertones As A Kenyan Is Appointed The Governor Of India’s Central Bank

The appointment of the Kenyan by Indian Prime Minister has sparked controversies over a foreigner leading India’s topmost bank.

The choice of the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) (equivalent to any Central Bank) has sparked xenophobic undertones in the populous Asian country.

Kenyan-born Urjit Patel was recently appointed the governor of RBI by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Urjit was born in Kenya to Indian businessman Ravindra and his wife Manjula who ran a chemical factory named Rexo Products in Nairobi.

He studied in Visa Oshwal Primary School and later in Jamhuri High School in Nairobi. He proceeded to pursue high education abroad; he obtained his Bachelor’s in Economics from the London School of Economics, M. Phil. from Oxford University and doctorate in Economics from Yale University .

Urjit appointment as the governor of RBI has been met by light xenophobia from the public and even from Indian mainstream media.

India Today newspaper called him a less Indian claiming Urjit only changed his nationality from Kenyan to India after he was offered the post of RBI deputy governor in 2013.

And surprisingly just like his Kenyan counterpart governor Patrick Ngugi Njoroge, 52 year old Urjit is also SINGLE. The Times of India says Urjit is a loner who lives with his mother who is in her 80s.

Credit: Daily Nation