Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asked every patriotic Indian to oppose the “sale of national assets” and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “attacking the future” of India’s youth to help a handful of industrialists.

“Modi is not a Prime Minister. He is an instrument for doing a particular job for a few industrialists. He is attacking the future of our youth to serve the interests of three-four industrialists,” the Congress leader told a news conference.

“Narendra Modiji ka ek aur BJP ka ek naara tha, ‘Sattar saal mein kuchh nahin hua’. Aur kal finance minister ne jo bhi sattar saal mein iss desh ki poonji bani thi usko bechne ka decision le liya. Matlab Pradhan Mantri ne sab kuchh bech diya (Narendra Modiji and the BJP had a slogan, that nothing was done in 70 years. And yesterday the finance minister took the decision to sell whatever wealth the country had created in 70 years. Meaning, the Prime Minister has sold everything),” he added.

Rahul was referring to the government’s plans to farm out a vast trove of infrastructure assets to the private sector, announced on Monday.

The Congress MP described the move as a direct fallout of the mishandling of the economy by the Modi government and a clear sign that it did not know what to do. “As a last resort, they are selling everything that we had helped create,” he added.

Rahul contended that the youth would not get jobs after Modi succeeded in creating huge monopolies.

“The whole idea behind this is to create monopolies... for three or four people. And my young friends who are today searching for a job cannot find a job… The reason you cannot find a job is that the entire small and medium industries are destroyed because the Prime Minister insists on building two or three monopolies that own everything in this country,” he said.

“This is not just a gifting of India’s assets. This is going to ensure that the young people of India will not be able to find employment in the future.”

Underlining that when he had warned about the coronavirus, he was ridiculed, Rahul added: “This thing (the farming out of assets) is going to ensure our young people do not get jobs. This is going to ensure that our entire industrial structure is controlled by two or three people.

“So as a youngster, it is your duty, and my duty, to fight this and to make people understand what the Prime Minister is doing. The Prime Minister is not working for the people of India. The Prime Minister is working for two or three monopolists.”

The Congress leader warned of profound social consequences. “When you cannot give jobs to people, it leads to social tension, social anger and then social explosion. So you will see dramatic increase in violence, a dramatic increase in anger, millions of youngsters who simply cannot have a future, who will look at the houses of these monopolists and wonder what went wrong with India. That is what is happening.”

Rahul equated the Prime Minister’s perceived belief that a few large monopolists can transform India with the situation that led to the enslavement of India by the East India Company.

“This is very dangerous for India. We saw a monopoly that the East India Company was. It enslaved India. We are again moving towards slavery. It is a huge tragedy. I urge every patriotic person, every nationalist, to oppose this. It is my duty and the duty of the youth to fight it.”

Rahul dismissed the government’s claim that infrastructure assets that had been languishing were being used for resource mobilisation.

“(Are) the railways languishing? Are trains not in use? National highways, telecom, gas pipelines, warehouses, the power sector — (all) languishing?” he said.

Rahul contended that Modi’s policies were aimed at creating monopolies in the formal sector while destroying the informal sector.

He countered the Centre’s argument that the assets were not being sold and only leased out, with the ownership remaining with the government.

“Leasing is an excuse. The Indian people have put in thousands and thousands of crores of rupees to create such assets. Now you are going to take a little bit of rent and gift the assets to these people.

“They don’t have the courage to say, ‘We are selling’. Who knows what will happen after 40 years? So the discussion on ownership will begin after 40 years. By that time the game is over. The reality is, Modi is gifting national assets built with enormous resources and labour by Indians to his friends.”

Explaining the Congress perspective on privatisation, he said: “We had a logic. Strategic assets will never be privatised. We consider the railways strategic because (they are) the backbone of India and give jobs to a large number of people.”

He added: “We sold industries which were chronically loss-making, had minimal market share and didn’t create private monopolies. All small and medium enterprises will (now) close down because of huge monopolies and jobs will disappear.”

Without naming any industrialists, he said: “We all know who the airports and ports are going to. We know who is interested in warehouses. All these assets will go to three-four people.”

Rahul wondered how the government decision would affect reservations and asked the Congress to examine the issues involved in detail and present its findings to the people.

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram, who too was at the news conference, said: “What are the goals (of the handover exercise), what is the consultation with the stakeholders? They say they want to raise money. Can that be a goal in itself?”

He added: “Can you sell assets built over 70 years with humongous amounts of money to raise money? It is closing-down sale. Virtually no public sector will remain after this.”

Chidambaram, known as a champion of the free market and an advocate of privatisation, went on: “The government will get (Rs) 6 lakh crore in four years. The Prime Minister announced repeatedly that the national infrastructure project is worth Rs 100 lakh crore. What mathematics is this? This is a scandal. Unions, workers, the youth, citizens must start debating this. This is dangerous. The country must wake up.”