JOIN USCongress' nationwide campaign links NMP with job loss; media blitzkrieg in five cites on Friday
With the poll season closing in, Congress has reoriented its campaign around employment and the economic mess in the country.
Five senior leaders on Friday launched a scathing attack on Centre's National Monetisation Plan in five major cities and Rahul Gandhi linked the issue with loss of jobs, and warning youths that Modi government is "harmful for employment".
Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken, Rajiv Shukla and Shashi Tharoor highlighted the issue through press conferences in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Raipur, Jaipur and Srinagar. After Rahul Gandhi began it in Delhi last week, senior party leader Mukul Wasnik went to Guwahati to raise the issue. Sachin Pilot raised the issue in Bangalore, while Milind Deora, Bhupesh Baghel and Digvijaya Singh will go to Cochin, Lucknow and Patna respectively.
"The Modi government is harmful for employment. It does not promote or support any kind of business or employment not belonging to friends and instead is trying to snatch jobs from those who have them," Gandhi alleged in a Hindi tweet on Friday, latching on to reports about the rise in the unemployment rate in the country in August.
Sharing screenshots of media reports that cited data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) to claim that over 15 lakh people in the country lost their jobs in August, as well reported incidents of suicides of unemployed youths in different parts of the country, Gandhi said, "the biggest national issue is employment to which there are some solutions --- do not sell public sector units, public sector banks, give financial aid to MSMEs, think about the nation and not about friends, but the central government does not want to resolve the issue."
Gandhi also said the country is talking about "friend-monopoly," with the hashtag "IndiaOnSale" on Twitter. Congress Communication department chief Randeep Surjewala accused the Prime Minister of remaining committed to the welfare of his "crony friends".
Congress has been repeatedly accusing the government of allegedly seeking to benefit its few corporate friends. On Friday, Gandhi said acerbically in his Hindi tweet "issued in public interest" that a pretense of self-reliance is expected from the people of the country.
Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram hit out at the government over Centre's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) and asked the government to "reveal" the objectives behind it and posed 20 questions to the government. The BJP has trashed the allegations.