As Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that unemployment was at a 45-year peak and one of the primary objectives of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was to understand the aspirations of the youth, the Congress decided to observe Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on Saturday as “National Unemployment Day”.
Addressing a huge crowd at the end of the eighth day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul said India was facing its worst-ever unemployment problem because of the politics of hatred.
He said a nation so full of hatred cannot have a vision for progress, contending that the millions of people joining the Yatra wanted to send out a message to the RSS-BJP that they wouldn’t allow them to destroy this country.
“Imagine a family which is fighting within itself. That family cannot progress. That family has to get destroyed,” he explained.
Rahul asked: “Why Bharat Jodo?”
The Congress leader replied: “Because once we unite the country, when we bring harmony, we can solve the problems of unemployment and price rise. The main thing is to understand there is a link between hatred and progress.”
Rahul, who has been drawing huge crowds during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, posted this message on Facebook: “Ours is a young country. We have a unique force in the form of youth. Our country can develop at a rapid pace if we use the energy of our youth in a proper way. But we are grappling with a 45-year peak in unemployment. Educated youth are wandering in search of jobs. They are in the grip of hopelessness. It is our duty as well as the need of the hour to strengthen the backbone of our youth, lead them on a constructive path.”
Rahul added: “I am meeting lots of youths in the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. I am trying to understand what they expect from the government, what kind of assistance they want from us to ensure a bright future and how many possibilities we can create for them. The purpose of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is to listen to children, elders, youth, women, labourers, farmers, tribals and the poor and try to solve their problems. We have succeeded in drawing the youth out; they are freely talking to us and walking with us. I hope we can together unite India and ensure its progress.”
Arguing that creating an unprecedented job crisis was Modi’s biggest achievement, Youth Congress chief B.V. Srinivas issued a statement: “Over 14 crore existing jobs have vanished but the Prime Minister is silent. We have decided to celebrate the silence of our Prime Minister as National Unemployment Day on September 17. This day is to seek answers to the questions of all the frustrated youths of this country. This day is to seek justice for those youths who committed suicide after the government snatched away their employment. This day is to celebrate the ‘Fakeeri’ of the Prime Minister who has (turned) a blind eye to the concerns of millions of youths that are out there on the streets protesting for their jobs.”
The Youth Congress has been observing Modi’s birthday as “National Unemployment Day” for the past three years. Several youth organisations and activists have already given a call to observe September 17 as “National Unemployment Day”.
Apart from holding discussions on the causes of the rising unemployment and holding protests across the country, these outfits have declared an intention to run a Twitter trend on the subject by posting at least 1 crore tweets. These outfits posted millions of tweets on unemployment on Modi’s birthday in 2020 and 2021.
The Youth Congress chief said: “I firmly believe that every leader should be celebrated for his achievements. Like the whole world celebrates the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as the International Day of Non-violence, we too celebrate September 17 as National Unemployment Day. India today stands in the face of a 45-year-high unemployment rate; I believe no achievement of Modi Ji is as great as this one.”
Srinivas said: “According to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate increased to 8.30 per cent in August from 6.80 per cent in July. This is the highest in the past 12 months. It is very easy for the government to shy away from its responsibilities and blame the pandemic for the ever-increasing unemployment but the truth is that India’s unemployment crisis predates the pandemic. The pandemic has just made it worse. During the pandemic, the private sector made heavy layoffs and the MSME sector was largely destroyed.”
Recalling that the Prime Minister had won the support of the youth by promising to create two crore jobs every year, he said: “Now he is busy inaugurating statues and toppling Opposition governments while the youths are out on the streets. The government does not bother to heed their concerns. At first, the government asked the youths to fry ‘pakodas’ but even that has become difficult because of price rise. We boasted of the demographic dividend but what have we done to it?”
He asked: “Did we increase funds for education? How many new universities did we build? Are the existing schools and universities well equipped? The answer is ‘no’ and this one can easily find through the stories of various youths across the nation. On top of it, the government recruitment exams that the students prepare for either get postponed due to some scam or sometimes do not happen at all. Even the existing opportunities are being destroyed by the government.”