Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 18 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed the BJP-government at the Centre and said demonetization and “flawed” implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) were among major factors for unemployment in the country.
Gandhi, who took part in the ‘BJP Bhagao, Mehangai Hatao’ march in Amethi, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath of not talking about “unemployment”.
“You are aware of the situation today. Unemployment and inflation are the biggest questions that neither the Chief Minister nor the Prime Minister will answer. The Prime Minister was taking a dip in Ganga a few days back but won’t talk about unemployment. I’ll tell you why the youth is deprived of employment,” he said.
“Middle-class people and the poor were badly affected by some of the decisions taken by the Prime Minister, which also resulted in large-scale unemployment. Demonetization, wrongly implemented GST, no help during the COVID-19 crisis are the major reasons for unemployment in India,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi, who was accompanied by his sister and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also hit out at the Prime Minister over the three farm laws that were later repealed.
“PM Modi bought farm laws and said, they are going to benefit farmers. After one year when all farmers stood together against the laws, PM had to apologize. We questioned about the compensation for farmers who died in the protest, he said no farmers died in the protest,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi, who won from Amethi thrice and lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, recalled he fought the first election from the constituency. “I came into politics in 2004. Amethi was the city where I contested my first election. People of Amethi have taught me a lot about politics. You have shown me the way to politics and I want to thank each and everyone from Amethi,” the Congress leader said.
The seat was considered a stronghold of Congress but BJP made rapid gains here in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and won it in 2019. The march was part of nationwide ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’ by Congress against the BJP-led government. Uttar Pradesh is slated to go to polls early next year. (ANI)
