"Stick To Choreographed Interviews": BJP vs Rahul Gandhi Over Jobs

The BJP on Sunday lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi following his claim that more than two lakh jobs have been "eliminated" from PSUs, asking him to focus on doing "Mickey Mouse kind of interviews" instead of trying to look intelligent by talking about issues which he doesn't understand.

The BJP's reaction came after the former Congress president claimed that more than two lakh jobs have been "eliminated" from public sector undertakings (PSUs) and alleged that hopes of lakhs of youth are being "trampled upon" by the government for the benefit of a few "crony capitalist friends".

In a long tweet in Hindi, Mr Gandhi also said that the PSUs used to be the pride of India and the dream of every youth for employment but today, they are "not the priority of the government".

Hitting back, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said the truth is that the Narendra Modi government has reformed the PSUs and they are doing much better than they ever did under the Congress-led UPA dispensation.

"You ran a vicious campaign against HAL, SBI and LIC too, eventually to look stupid, when each of these PSUs posted super profits. You are once again mutilating data to suit your devious agenda,” Malviya said in a long tweet in a sharp reaction to Mr Gandhi's claim.

The BJP leader said that in 2013, the total number of those employed with public sector enterprises (PSEs) stood at 20.3 lakh and the same number, as on 2022, was 19.8 lakh, “despite rationalisation in BSNL and MTNL, and Air India's disinvestment”.

Additionally, as part of the Mission Recruitment, CPSEs have added over 20,000 new jobs since June last year, which will reflect in this year's tally, he added.

"Several PSUs have in fact reported an increase in employee strength in 2022 over 2013, when UPA was in power. Like Indian Oil Corporation (increase of 79,828), Mahanadi Coalfields (36,418 additions), Nuclear Power Corporation (22,235 new employees), Northern Coalfields (incremental 17,674 jobs) and HPCL Rajasthan Refinery has added 16,422 new headcount, among others," Mr Malviya said.

Not just this, profit-making central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have made a net profit of Rs 2.49 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 as against Rs 1.29 lakh crore in FY 2013-14, registering an increase of 93 per cent, he added.

The BJP leader said, "Contribution of all CPSEs to central exchequer by way of excise duty, custom duty, GST, corporate tax, interest on central government loans, dividend, and other duties and taxes stood at Rs 5.07 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 as against Rs 2.20 lakh crore in FY 2013-14, a steep jump of 130 per cent." Net worth of all the CPSEs has increased from Rs 9.5 lakh crore as on March 31, 2014 to Rs 15.58 lakh crore as on March 31, 2022, an increase of 65 per cent, he added.

"You, Rahul Gandhi, should focus on doing Mickey Mouse kind of interviews with your Papa's colleagues, who are still indebted to the Gandhi family, for the largesse received,” Mr Malviya said in his tweet. 

"You should not try to look intelligent by talking about jobs etc because you understand nothing about these things. You should stick to doing choreographed interviews, which can be edited later, to remove bloopers and make you look reasonable,” he added.

Mr Malviya said that the Congress should stop shedding “crocodile tears” over the state of affairs of PSUs, alleging that “poorly-conceived policies” of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government has brought down “countless PSUs and sunk taxpayers money”, which could have been used for health and education.

“Due to massive corruption and foolish policies, Air India and BSNL were decimated under the UPA government,” he alleged.

PSUs have been given “far greater freedom” under the Modi government, the BJP leader said.

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