Congress chief cites Krugman over jobs

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rising number of unemployment in the country.

Accusing the Modi government of “living in denial”, the Congress president tweeted: “The Nobel prize winning economist, Paul Krugman, confirms what we’ve been saying for over two years now. Mass unemployment is the biggest threat India faces. Unfortunately, we have a PM who lives in denial. Afraid his ‘acche din’ PR will take a beating.”

Mr Gandhi also used a media report, quoting Mr Krugman’s warning that India’s story could end with mass unemployment.

The Congress has been attacking the government for its failure to provide jobs to the youth. In its recent concluded plenary, the party said the country needed to be “rescued from the hands of incompetent economic managers” and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) philosophical belief in a “coercive economic regime”.

The party’s economic resolution stated that “the abysmal economic management” has resulted in the lack of jobs for millions of Indian youths.

There has been a concerted effort from the Congress to highlight the economic failures of the government. In all the election rallies in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and now Karnataka, the Congress is raising the issue of lack of job opportunities.

Meanwhile, Mr Gandhi has also taken to Twitter to corner the government.

Attacking the government on the state of economy, former Prime Mini-ster Manmohan Singh had also said, “In 2014, BJP claimed that if it came to power it would provide 2 crore jobs. But we have not seen even two lakh jobs.”

He also added that the said “ill-thought and ill-conceived” demonetisation and the “hastily put forward” legislation for GST has destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium industry.