Former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the central government on Sunday asking if this is the ‘Amrit Kal’ as portrayed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, why are jobs decreasing in India.

“If this is really ‘Amrit Kaal’ then why are jobs disappearing like this? The country is grappling with record unemployment under this government. The hopes of lakhs of youth are being crushed for the benefit of a few capitalist friends,” a rough translation of Rahul Gandhi’s tweet in English read. The former Congress MP highlighted in his tweet that the central government is neglecting the Public Sector units (PSUs). He supported his argument with the help of extensive data on the loss of employment in PSUs.

“PSUs used to be the pride of India and used to be the dream choice of employment for every youth. But, today these are not the priority of the government. Employment in PSUs has come down from 16.9 lakh in 2014 to only 14.6 lakh in 2022. Do jobs decrease in a progressive country?” he wrote.

Lambasting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, he said that those who promised to provide 2 crore jobs every year, eliminated more than 2 lakh jobs.

Attacking the government on increasing contract recruitment in the PSUs and thereby taking away the right to reservation, Rahul wondered whether it is a ‘conspiracy’ to privatize the companies.

“Is increasing contract employees not a way to take away the constitutional right of reservation? Is this a conspiracy to privatize these companies? Debt waiver for industrialists, and clearing government jobs from PSUs! What kind of immortality is this?” he said.

Rahul said that the country is grappling with record unemployment and the hopes of lakhs of youth are being crushed for the benefit of a few capitalist friends.

“If the PSUs of India get the right environment and support from the government, they are capable of increasing both the economy and employment,” Rahul suggested adding that the PSUs are the property of the country and the countrymen and hence they have to be ‘promoted’.

On March 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the people of this generation did not get an opportunity to sacrifice their lives during the freedom struggle, but now they have a chance to work for a strong, developed and inclusive India in this “Amrit Kaal”.

PM Modi was speaking at the inauguration of the year-long celebrations of the centenary year of the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi via video-conferencing.