Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office announced 10 lakh job recruitments in the government "in mission mode", a message of "thanks" from BJP MP Varun Gandhi was read by many as a thinly veiled dig.
This morning, a post from the PMO (Prime Minister's Office), said PM Modi had reviewed the status of human resources in all government departments and had asked them to recruit 10 lakh people in the next year and a half.
"PM Narendra Modi reviewed the status of Human Resources in all departments and ministries and instructed that recruitment of 10 lakh people be done by the Government in mission mode in next 1.5 years," said the post.
Varun Gandhi, who has been openly critical of his own party and government in the past few years, replied to the post.
"Thank you, Prime Minister, for understanding the pain and emotions of the unemployed youth. Along with creating new jobs, we need to make meaningful efforts to fill up more than 1 crore 'sanctioned but vacant' posts. To fulfill the promise of providing 2 crore jobs every year, steps will have to be taken at a faster pace," the BJP MP wrote.
Yesterday, Varun Gandhi had cloaked his criticism in a tweet thanking AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for mentioning employment data pulled out by him revealing that over 60 lakh government posts lie vacant at the Centre and in states, even as unemployment is at a record high in the country.
He shared a video, in which Mr Owaisi could be seen reading out the number of vacant posts, pointing out that it's not his data but provided by the BJP MP.
"Unemployment is the most burning issue of the country today and the leaders of the whole country should draw the attention of the government to this issue. Unemployed youth should get justice, only then the country will become powerful.
I am grateful that my questions raised on employment were mentioned by @asadowaisi ji in his speech," Varun Gandhi tweeted.
The government's decision comes amid opposition criticism on unemployment and vacant posts in different government sectors.
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