The Congress on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had destroyed governance, and alleged that he had organised “Rozgar Melas” to create the impression that he was personally giving jobs to the youths.

At the latest Rozgar Mela on Tuesday, Modi distributed 71,000 appointment letters virtually while ministers were sent to 45 locations across the country to physically distribute letters on his behalf. A cutout of Modi was installed in the capital so that the new recruits could pose for photographs, holding a placard that screamed “Rozgar Mela” and prominently featured the Prime Minister’s name.

These events were organised as part of the government’s promise to give 10 lakh jobs over the next one year. The Congress has wondered how giving 10 lakh jobs counts as an achievement.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said: “By personalising governance like never before, this Prime Minister has destroyed governance. He has taken it to new lows through his Rozgar Melas — as if he has personally created these jobs, as if he is personally paying those getting these jobs, and as if those getting these jobs should feel beholden to him and him alone.”

Ramesh said: “The job-seeking youth in this country know it is this Prime Minister who has destroyed lakhs and lakhs of jobs — both in the government and the private sector — through demonetisation, flawed GST, crippling of MSMEs and wholesale privatisation of PSUs."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Modi has demolished the dreams of 18 crore youths over the last nine years (after having) promised to create two crore jobs every year. There are 30 lakh vacancies in the government, but the Prime Minister turned the distribution of 71,000 appointment letters into a mega event. The Congress will give a fitting reply to the betrayal of youths by the Modi government.”

The Congress has been critical of the Rozgar Melas, where the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues distribute appointment letters to the selected candidates. The Congress has accused Modi of building hype around routine recruitments to conceal the scourge of unemployment under his rule.

After a similar Rozgar Mela a few months ago, Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil had said: “The 75,000 beneficiaries whom you claim to have given jobs, please put out their names and phone numbers and the departments where they will work. Create a dedicated website and make the information public. Anybody can check who got jobs in the Prime Minister’s Rozgar Mela.

“Have you really given jobs to these people? Or have you just hired them on contract? And what are the procedures that were followed for the selection of these candidates? There should be transparency; please tell the nation to whom and how these jobs were distributed. Also, explain how long were these posts lay vacant.”

Another Congress spokesperson, Pawan Khera, had said last year: “Nobody saw the job crisis and suddenly this tamasha of Rozgar Mela is organised. The Prime Minister has a special knack for creating spectacles out of crises. We saw such a tamasha during Covid as well. His guru L.K. Advani had rightly said that Modi was an event manager.”

Modi said on Tuesday that every policy formulated in the last nine years had acted as a “door to generating employment” for the youth.

The newly recruited personnel will be appointed to various posts, including gramin dak sevaks, inspectors of posts, commercial-cum-ticket clerks, junior clerks-cum-typists, junior accounts clerks, track maintainers, assistant section officers, lower division clerks, sub-divisional officers, tax assistants, assistant enforcement officers, inspectors, nursing officers, assistant security officers, firemen, assistant accounts officers, assistant audit officers, divisional accountants, auditors, constables, head constables, assistant commandants, principals, trained graduate teachers, assistant registrars and assistant professors, among others.