Shiv Sena slams Modi govt over unemployment

The Shiv Sena today hit out at the Modi government saying the ruling BJP had given a pre-poll promise of creating one crore jobs every year, but in reality the number of unemployed people was growing by the day.

Referring to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's swipe at the Centre over Union minister Nitin Gadkari's "where are the jobs" remark, the Sena said the opposition party should not forget that the unemployment scenario during its rule was equally deplorable.

"There was a news about one lakh fresh jobs being created through the Ayushman Bharat (national health protection) scheme. But there was another report which said 24 lakh government posts are lying vacant and three crore youths are jobless. These two reports highlight the hard reality of the unemployment situation in the country," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece "Saamana" today.

"There is nothing new in these reports, but they show that nothing has changed during the rule of those who had promised to create one crore jobs every year. The moves like demonetisation and roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) further affected the revenue of lakhs of people in the last two years," it



added.

It is being said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme would provide jobs to one lakh people. This is an ambitious scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which aims to provide a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually to 10 crore families, the BJP ally said.

"Under the scheme, around one lakh 'Ayushman Mitra' will be appointed at both private and government hospitals, who will work as a bridge between the hospitals and patients.

We only wish that the announcement comes true. The nature of their job, whether it is of permanent or temporary nature, their salaries and perks should be specified," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

Going by the promises given by those in power today, four crore jobs should have been created in the last four years. But three crore youths in the country are currently jobless, it said.

"Union minister Nitin Gadkari, while answering a query recently said "where are the jobs". Although its context was different, he has stated a fact. Congress president Rahul Gandhi taunted Gadkari over his statement. But they should not forget that during the Congress rule the unemployment situation was equally bad," the Sena said.