The Congress on Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the alleged lack of employment opportunities, saying he is holding Rozgar Melas as he is feeling the "heat of an election year" and to save his image.

Addressing a Rozgar Mela this morning, Modi distributed over 51,000 appointment letters to the youth, mostly in the security forces.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh termed the Rozgar Melas as the "biggest jumlas"(rhetoric) and said the prime minister has "failed" to fulfil his promise of creating two crore jobs per year.

"After destroying the MSME sector with demonetisation, a badly designed GST and an ill-planned sudden lockdown. After betraying the hope of aspirational youth for more than 9 years, the Prime Minister is feeling the heat in an election year.To save his flailing image, he has come up with one of the biggest jumlas — the PM Rozgar Mela," he said on X.

Ramesh claimed that the "jobs are already sanctioned posts that have not been filled up for years due to some administrative or financial reason. In a very large number of instances appointment letters are being handed out by the PM even in cases of promotion". "The Mela personalises employment in the government sector as if the PM is singularly responsible for mostly routine job offers," he said.

Noting that job creation comes from economic growth that is driven by investments, the Congress leader charged, "The PM Rozgar Mela is a gimmick and is yet another proof of a gigantic ego, enormous vanity, the unbounded self-obsession and the refusal to accept responsibility for the dire unemployment situation."

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