New Delhi: Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government over the issue of unemployment, acknowledging that previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments also failed to tackle the crisis effectively.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Gandhi stated that no government so far has been able to provide concrete answers to the youth regarding employment.
“Even though we have grown, and we’ve grown fast, we are growing slightly slower now, but we are growing. A universal problem that we have faced is that we have not been able to tackle the problem of unemployment. Neither the UPA government nor today’s NDA government has given a clear-cut answer to the youth of this country about employment,” he said.
The Congress leader, while praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conceptualizing the ‘Make in India’ initiative, criticized its execution, saying it had failed to generate employment.
“PM Narendra Modi tried and conceptually ‘Make in India’ was a good idea, but it is clear that he failed,” Gandhi said.
He pointed out that manufacturing’s share in India’s GDP has declined under the Modi government, stating:
“The Prime Minister proposed ‘Make in India’, a good initiative. We saw the statues, functions, and the so-called investors, and the result is right in front of me today. Manufacturing fell from 15.3% of GDP in 2014 to 12.6% of GDP today, the lowest share of manufacturing in 60 years.”
Gandhi further alleged that the Modi government failed to organize domestic production and instead outsourced it to China.
“The reason China is sitting inside this country is because ‘Make in India’ has failed and India is refusing to produce. I am worried that India is going to give up this revolution to the Chinese once again,” he warned.
The Congress MP also took a dig at the President’s address, claiming it was a repetition of last year’s speech.
“The address of the President to the two Houses was similar to the one made last year, the same ‘laundry list’ of things the government has done,” he remarked.
