1 crore jobs lost while Modi was busy marketing himself: Rahul

IMPHAL/KHUMULWNG, March 20

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lacerated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for "destroying" one crore jobs and unleashing "politics of division and hatred", insisting while these were happening the prime minister was busy "marketing" himself.

Addressing election rallies in Manipur capital Imphal and Khumulwng in Tripura in the Northeast, where his party's last standing citadel fell to rival BJP's ally Mizo National Front in Mizoram in November 2018, Gandhi accused the saffron party of abandoning its 'act east policy' and attacking the culture and ethos of the people of the region.

Unsparing in his assault on Modi, Gandhi also wondered whether the prime minister ever studied at a university, and alleged educational institutions were undergoing saffronisation under his watch.

Attacking Modi over alleged loss of employment opportunities, the Congress leader said the prime minister had claimed on taking over the reins of the government that two crore jobs will be created every year, but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. Over 30,000 jobs were lost on an average every day, he claimed.

"In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed one crore jobs. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," Gandhi told the well-attended rally in Imphal.

A Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report had recently claimed 1.09 crore jobs were lost in the country in the past one year.

The Modi government is under fire from opposition parties as also allies like the Shiv Sena over alleged job loss.

"Modi has reduced the Prime Minister's Office to the status of Publicity Minister's Office as he is busy marketing himself," he earlier said during an interaction with students in Imphal, where he also accused the Centre of saffronising educational institutions.

During the interaction, he claimed nobody knew whether Modi ever went to a university.

"We still have no access to his university degree. Nobody actually knows if he went to university or not. There is an RTI (application) in Delhi seeking PM's degree but it has not been responded to," Gandhi said, adding "the prime minister is imposing mediocrity on a sophisticated country".

Speaking about the unrest at the Manipur University last year after students and teachers demanded removal of the then vice chancellor AP Pandey over his alleged "anti-academic activities", Gandhi said he was happy that the people of Manipur succeeded in forcing him out. The protests for the ouster of Pandey, who allegedly had RSS links, had led to the closure of the university for three months.

"He (Pandey) was imposed on you. The only qualification to run a university (now) is to wear a pair of shorts, wield a 'lathi' (stick) and spread hatred," Gandhi said, in an oblique reference to the RSS.

Gandhi said an ideological battle was being fought in the country between the "politics of hatred and policy of love", with the BJP and the Congress on rival sides.

"There are two things going on in the country simultaneously. On one hand, there is politics of division and hatred of BJP, and on the other hand there is the policy of love, unity and solidarity of Congress.

"I call upon all party supporters and common people to wage this ideological battle against BJP and help the Congress in forming the government at the Centre," he told a rally in Khumulwng, 25 km from Agartala.

As he attempted to retrieve the ground the Congress has ceded to the BJP and its allies in the Northeast, Gandhi, while addressing election rallies in Manipur and Tripura, called the contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill an "onslaught on the "land, language, culture and history" of people living in the region.

Targeting BJP president Amit Shah over his assertion that the Citizenship Bill will be re-introduced if his party forms the next government, the Congress leader dubbed it as an attack on the culture of the Northeast.

"His (Modi's) party president (Amit Shah) says Citizenship Bill will be imposed on the people of Manipur and the Northeast. These people are attacking your culture. We did not allow the bill to pass. The Congress will defend your culture and the bill will not be passed...it will never become a law," he told the Imphal rally.

Accusing the Modi government of neglecting the Northeast, the Congress leader said, the prime minister's words do not match his acts. "Don't only look east, but act east," he said.

Addressing the election meeting in Tripura, the Congress leader alleged the prime minister was "complicit" in aiding the "theft" of public money by fugitive economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi.

Gandhi's remark came on a day when Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested in London, in a major boost to India's efforts to bring back the fugitive diamantaire. Mallya also faces the prospect of extradition to India to face trial on money laundering charges after the Westminster Magistrates Court rejected his plea against the move.

"All the thieves of India have turned their black money into white by depositing them into banks during demonetisation. They did this with the help of Narendra Modi," Gandhi alleged, as he targeted the prime minister over the note ban. PTI