Rahul Gandhi asserted that the public sector enterprises (PSUs) were once the pride of the nation and claimed that they were not a priority for the government. He further questioned whether the number of jobs in a developing nation would decrease. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi challenged the Centre on the issue of ‘unemployment’ on Sunday, claiming that two lakh jobs had been ‘removed’ from public sector enterprises, and accused the government of disregarding the aspirations of young people for the benefit of ‘a few crony capitalists’.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked the Centre about ‘unemployment’ on Sunday and claimed that two lakh jobs have been ‘removed’ from public sector undertakings. He also accused the government of stifling the aspirations of young people for the benefit of ‘a few crony capitalists’. Gandhi said the PSUs used to be India’s “proud” and said they’re not the “priority” of the government. He also asked if the number of jobs will decrease in a growing country. “Employment in PSUs of the country has come down from 16.9 lakh in 2014 to only 14.6 lakh in 2022. Do jobs decrease in a progressing country? 1,81,127 jobs lost in BSNL; 61,928 in SAIL; 34,997 in MTNL; 29,140 in SECL; 28,063 in FCI; 21,120 in ONGC,” the Congress leader said in a tweet in Hindi.

Rahul Gandhi takes swipe at BJP government over job promises

He took a dig at the BJP for saying they’d give 2 crore jobs to the youth every year, but instead of doing that, he said the government ‘killed’ over 2 lakh jobs. “Those who made false promises of 2 crore jobs every year, instead of increasing the jobs, eliminated more than 2 lakhs,” Gandhi tweeted.

“On top of this, almost doubled the contract recruitments in these institutions. Is increasing contract employees not a way of taking away the constitutional right of reservation? Is this a conspiracy to privatise these companies? Industrialists’ loans waived, and government jobs eliminated from PSU’s! What kind of ‘Amrit Kaal’ is this” he added. He wanted to know why jobs were disappearing if it was Amrit Kaal. “The country is grappling with record unemployment under this government as the hopes of lakhs of youth are being trampled upon for the benefit of a few crony capitalist friends,” he  alleged.

The Congress leader stressed that it’s important to create the right environment for public sector enterprises (PSUs) and that if they have the government’s backing, they can help the economy and create jobs. “If the PSUs of India get the right environment and support from the government, they are capable of increasing both the economy and employment. PSUs are the property of the country and the countrymen, they have to be promoted so that they can strengthen the path of India’s progress,” he tweeted.