Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday threw a Chinese punch at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative and said that India should learn from the experience of China in creating job opportunities despite adopting large-scale automation.

Rahul, who was here on a daylong tour to address a public rally and interact with intellectuals, said: “Modiji talks about Make in India, what is the actual result? In 24 hours, China creates 15,000 jobs every day. But in the same 24 hours, India creates just 450 jobs. This is government of India data placed in the Lok Sabha.”

During the interaction, he said: “Automation bothers India and Europe, but it does not seem to have an impact on China. When I met two (Chinese) ministers during my Kailash Mansorovar visit, they told that job creation was not a problem in China. In fact, they have plenty of jobs. They said computerisation did not kills jobs as people were required to manufacture computers and code software.”

Rahul, who had visited Kailash Mansarovar in September last year, said that India was the only country capable of taking up the challenge posed by China.

He also reminded the gathering about the BJP’s poll promise to create jobs. “But 60 lakh youths in Odisha migrate to other states, including Karnataka, Delhi and Hyderabad, in search of jobs,” he said.

Expressing concern about the rising influence of RSS on the administration, Rahul said: “A systematic effort has been made to destroy all the institutions. In North and South Block, officers on special duty are recruits from RSS headquarters in Nagpur.”

Later at a public rally held on the city outskirts, Rahul was unsparing on Modi and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Taking a dig at Naveen, he termed the chief minister as the “junior partner of Modi”.

“The remote control of the BJD is now in the hands of Delhi ki sarkar. They will do what Modi asks them to do. Naveen has no courage to protest,” Rahul said.

Speaking about Rafale, the Congress chief said: “We had made it clear that the Rafale aircraft should be manufactured in India and Odisha to generate a number of jobs. The chowkidar PM visits France along with Anil Ambani and recommends the French President for the deal in favour of Anil Ambani.”

Saying that the “chowkidar chor hai’ (the watchman is a thief), Rahul also promised loan waiver for farmers if the Congress is voted to power.