Escalating his offensive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the NDA government’s ambitious flagship programmes — including Make in India — a big flop, as they failed to generate sufficient employment for the youth. This has caused large-scale unemployment and led to agitations across Gujarat, he added.
Rahul also mocked the poor implementation of GST, and alleged that it troubled the small traders the most. “We have five taxes now, the highest being 28 per cent. A small trader has to file three forms every months. This GST is a Gabbar Singh Tax, which has caused loss to the nation and put an end to small traders,” he said.
“Today, even if you click a selfie, it is the Chinese who gets a job. Modiji speaks of Make in India, but the reality is that every 24 hours about 30 lakh youth go out to seek employment and only 450 get it. This is a big failure,” Rahul said at a public rally in Gandhinagar, where OBC leader Alpesh Thakore joined the Congress.
Thakore, an OBC leader, demanded stricter imposition of the prohibition rule, steps to boost employment and education in the State. “We held Janadesh Sammelans across the State, we carried out a survey via missed calls, social media, door-to-door outreach. Over 20 lakh families told us to enter politics and join the Congress because the current government doesn’t care about the poor and only serves the rich. We don’t want money, we want respect. The issues of prohibition, affordable education and employment should be addressed,” said Thakore in his speech.
Mann ki baat Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, Rahul said: “Modiji keeps talking about his Mann ki Baat to the nation. Today, I will tell him Gujarat’s mann ki baat . The people of Gujarat want affordable education, employment and medical services. A Congress government in Gujarat will be a government of all sections, farmers, poor and youth.”
Pointing at the Gujarat government’s pro-industry stand, Rahul stated that instead of giving financial sops worth ₹35,000 crore to Tata Motors for Nano car, the government could have waived farm loans. “The power, water and financial support from the farmer’s share was given away to industries like Nano,” he said.