"$5 Trillion Economy A Jumla": Priyanka Gandhi Jabs Centre On Unemployment

Hitting out at the Centre over people seeking jobs in Israel, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said talk of five trillion dollar economy and Modi's guarantee are just a "jumla" with the real issue in the country being that of unemployment and inflation for which she claimed the BJP government has no solution.

The Congress general secretary shared a video on X which showed people queuing up for a recruitment drive to send workers to Israel.

In a post on X in Hindi, Ms Gandhi said, "If there is a war situation anywhere, then first of all we rescue our citizens from there and bring them back to our country." "But today unemployment has resulted in such a situation that the government is not even saving thousands of helpless youth from taking the risk of going to war-torn Israel," she said.

"This shows, that talk of things like '5 trillion dollar economy', 'two crore jobs annually' and 'Modi's guarantee' during elections is just jumla (rhetoric)," she said.

Why are the youth not getting employment in their own country, she asked.

"Are these youth standing in long queues for two days not the children of our country that we are happily ready to send them into the middle of such a terrible war?" Ms Gandhi said.

Notice how cleverly the government is making this a personal issue of the youth of the country, she said.

"What is the role of government in this? On what basis has the Government of India given permission to war-torn Israel to sacrifice Indian youth? Who will take the responsibility of protecting the life and property of these youth of ours? God forbid, if an incident happens to someone, who will take responsible?" the Congress leader said.

The real issue of India today is unemployment and inflation and the BJP government has no solution to it, she claimed.

The youth of the country are now understanding this, she added.

The Congress on Saturday had attacked the government over people reportedly queuing up in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for jobs in Israel, saying it was a reflection of the "grim unemployment situation" in the country and makes a "mockery" of the claims of a booming economy.

The Congress has been criticising the government over its handling of the economy and raising concerns over "increasing" unemployment and price rise. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)