"Not A Single Word On Unemployment": Priyanka Gandhi On Interim Budget

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday alleged that there is neither any vision nor any plan to create new jobs in the Centre's Interim Budget and said the "biggest misfortune" is Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not say a single word on unemployment.

She also claimed that the BJP-led government has failed to curb inflation and unemployment, and its Interim Budget has disappointed every section of the society.

In a post on X, the Congress general secretary said the two biggest troubles that the people of India are facing are unemployment and inflation.

भारत की जनता जिन दो सबसे बड़ी मुसीबतों का सामना कर रही है, वो है बेरोजगारी और महंगाई। केंद्र सरकार के बजट में इन दोनों मुसीबतों से निपटने के क्या उपाय हुए?

बेरोजगारी सारे रिकॉर्ड तोड़ चुकी है। IIM और IIT जैसे देश के बड़े-बड़े संस्थान प्लेसमेंट की चुनौती से जूझ रहे हैं। बजट में…

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) February 2, 2024

"What measures were taken in the central government's budget to deal with these two problems?" she asked.

"Unemployment has broken all records. Big institutes of the country such as IIMs and IITs are facing the challenge of placements. There is neither any vision nor any plan in the budget to create new jobs and deal with unemployment. The biggest misfortune is that the finance minister did not say a single word on unemployment," Mr Gandhi said.

Similarly, the general public, struggling with inflation, was also disappointed with this Interim Budget, she claimed.

"The poor and middle classes have been waiting for relief for the last ten years. No tax relief was given to the middle class. The BJP government, which has failed to curb inflation and unemployment, has disappointed every section of the society," she said.

In another post on X, Ms Gandhi alleged inflation is increasing day-by-day and women bear the maximum brunt of it.

"On the other hand, crimes against women are increasing and they are discriminated against at the workplace also," she said.

"According to the government agency Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), female temporary workers are paid 48 per cent less than men for the same work. At the same time, permanent women workers get 24 per cent less money than men. Amidst these circumstances, the most unfortunate thing is that nothing was said in the (Interim) budget to remove these anomalies," she said.

The Congress on Thursday said the Interim Budget presented by the government lacks both accountability and vision, and questioned how many of the promises made in the last ten years have been fulfilled.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before the general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)