Hitting out at the Centre over the issue of unemployment in India, the Congress on Monday alleged that the Modi Government and BJP were crushing the dreams and aspirations of the country’s youth.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, while referring to a recent incident in poll-bound Telangana where a young woman climbed up an electricity pole while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing a rally apparently in a bid to convey something to the PM, said, “Young India is fed up of Modi Government’s rank betrayal.”

Kharge, in a post on X, said, “Modi Govt and BJP is crushing the dreams and aspirations of India’s youth!”

The Congress president continued, “While the Prime Minister was speaking in Telangana, in a very disturbing visual, a girl climbed up an electricity pole in order to attract attention to the real issues facing the nation. Young India is fed up with Modi government’s rank betrayal. They aspired for Jobs, but in return got a 45-year-high Unemployment rate.”

He said they wanted economic empowerment, but in return the BJP gave a backbreaking price rise, which has reduced their savings to a 47-year low. “They yearned for social and economic justice, but in return the Modi government gave them ever-rising economic inequality. Richest five per cent Indians own over 60 per cent of India’s wealth, while the middle class and poor suffer. They strived for a safe India for our women and children, but crimes against women, children, Dalits, adivasis, and backward classes have sadly increased by leaps and bounds,” Kharge said.

The Congress president further said, “They (the youth) wanted unity and harmony in a diverse country like us, but got hate and divisiveness. The Modi Government and BJP are crushing the dreams and aspirations of India’s youth,” the Congress chief said.

His remarks came after the prime minister, who addressed a rally in Hyderabad Parade Grounds on Saturday, stopped his election speech midway after he noticed a young girl climbing a structure on which lights were fixed, in a bid to call for his attention.

The prime minister repeatedly urged her to get down from the structure, saying the condition of electric wires appeared to be not good.

PM Modi was in the city to address a meeting organised by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS), a community organisation of Madigas which is one of the biggest constituents of Scheduled Castes in Telugu states.

Telangana will go to polls on November 30 for its 119-member assembly and counting of votes will be on December 3.