Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asked whether the Narendra Modi government was conspiring to privatise public sector companies by restricting recruitments and relying on contractual jobs, arguing that over two lakh permanent jobs had vanished in the last nine years.

"PSUs (public sector units) were India's pride and every youth dreamt of getting a job in these companies. But today the PSUs are not the government’s priority. Jobs in the country’s PSUs have decreased from 16.90 lakh in 2014 to 14.60 lakh in 2022. Is it possible that employment opportunities decrease like this in a progressive country?” Rahul tweeted today.

While lakhs of vacancies in the two biggest PSU recruiters — the armed forces and the railways — have troubled India’s youth over the last many years, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has ceaselessly criticised the Modi government for creating the spectacle of Rozgar Mela for thousands of jobs instead of filling up the 30 lakh existing vacancies in the government. Now Rahul has flagged the disappearance of two lakh jobs in the PSUs.

Rahul said: "1,81,127 jobs reduced in BSNL, 61,928 in SAIL, 34,997 in MTNL, 29,140 in SECL, 28,063 in FCI, 21,120 in ONGC. Those who made a false promise of creating two crore new jobs every year wiped out two lakh existing jobs!”

The Congress has in the past alleged that decisions like demonetisation and flawed GST wiped out millions of existing jobs even in private sectors.

Rahul said: "What’s worse, contractual jobs in these companies have been doubled. Isn’t the decision to increase jobs on contract a ploy to snatch the constitutional right of reservation? Is this a conspiracy to ultimately privatise these companies? Write off the loans of industrialists and wipe out the jobs in government enterprises. What kind of Amrit Kaal is this?”

The Prime Minister has inexplicably called this phase “Amrit Kaal” without giving substantive reasons for the decision. No other Prime Minister ever described any phase during the last seven decades as a special period. The Opposition parties have ridiculed Modi for calling the phase “Amrit Kaal” when prices of essential commodities have soared, with petrol crossing Rs 100 per litre, cooking gas cylinders costing Rs 1,100 for the first time, unemployment at a 45-year high and social discord acquiring dreadful dimensions.

Rahul on Sunday questioned "Amrit Kaal" in the context of rising unemployment. He said: "If it is really ‘Amrit Kaal’, why are jobs disappearing like this? Why is the country grappling with record unemployment? Unemployment is rising because the government is crushing the dreams of millions of youth for the benefits of a chosen few capitalist friends.”

He insisted that India’s PSUs are capable of creating jobs and boosting the economy if they receive adequate support from the government. “The PSUs are the property of the people of the country. They must be protected and developed so that they sustain India’s march towards development.”

While crony capitalism and rising unemployment are going to be the main electoral planks of the Congress in the general election in 2024, the charge of weakening of PSUs covers both issues.

The Congress has constantly attacked the Modi government for handing over precious national assets — from ports to airports, railways to roads, power to retail, data to agro trade — to the Adani group and some other business houses.