Ahead of the Union Budget, to be presented in Parliament on July 23, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday upped the ante on the Modi government accusing it of ruining the lives of the people with high inflation, unemployment and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using his PR for last 10 years to keep people away from real issues.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Kharge said, “By pushing the country’s people into the abyss of unemployment, inflation and inequality, your government has ruined the lives of crores of people.”
Referring to the Prime Minister over his meeti g with the officials ahead of the budget, Kharge took a vieled dig and said, “While you are holding meetings under the shadow of cameras for the upcoming budget, pay attention to these basic economic issues of the country. The list of your failures is very long.”
Pointing the failures of the government, the Congress leader, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, “With an unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent, the future of youth is staring at nothing. For people aged 20-24, the unemployment rate has risen to 40 per cent highlighting the severe crisis in the job market among youth.”
On the issue of farmers, he said that the promise of doubling farmers’ income and cost + 50 per cent MSP has turned out to be false.
He also said that recently, on the MSP of 14 Kharif crops, the Modi government has once again proved that it is only using the MSP recommendation of the Swaminathan report as an election gimmick.
Kharge slammed the government and said that 3.84 lakh government jobs have been lost in the seven PSUs in which most of the government stake has been sold.
“This has also led to the loss of jobs in SC, ST, OBC, EWS reserved posts. Since 2016, you have sold a small stake in 20 top PSUs, due to which 1.25 lakh people have lost their government jobs,” Kharge alleged.
He also lambasted the government and said that manufacturing as a percentage of GDP has fallen from 16.5 per cent during the UPA tenure to 14.5 per cent during the Modi government.
The Congress leader further pointed out that private investment has also fallen sharply in the last 10 years.
“New private investment plans, which are a significant part of GDP, fell to a 20-year low of just Rs 44,300 crore between April and June. Last year, private investment was Rs 7.9 lakh crore in this period,” he said.
On inflation, he targeted the government and said that the havoc of inflation is at its peak.
“The prices of all essential food items like flour, pulses, rice, milk, sugar, potatoes, tomatoes, onions are skyrocketing. The result is that household savings of families are at the lowest level in 50 years. Economic inequality is the highest in 100 years,” he said, adding that wage growth in rural India is negative.
“Unemployment in rural areas has increased significantly and has now risen from 6.3 per cent in May to 9.3 per cent. The average number of days employed by MNREGA workers has decreased,” he said.
“Mr Modi, its been 10 years, you used your PR to keep the government away from the basic issues of the people, but after June 2024, this will not work anymore, the public is now demanding accountability,” he said, adding, “The arbitrary tampering with the country’s economy must now stop.”
His remarks came a day after the Prime Minister, with less than 10 days until the first full Budget of the Modi 3.0 Government, brainstormed with leading economists, sectoral experts, and NITI Aayog officials on key focus areas and strategies for the crucial policy document.
