Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman not to be scared of his questions, continuing his attack on the government over the Union Budget. On Sunday, the Congress leader had advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to try his “magical exercise” to tackle the slowdown in the economy.
On Monday, Gandhi tweeted in Hindi: “Please don’t be scared of my questions finance minister. I am asking these questions on behalf of the youth of this country, and it’s your responsibility to answer them. The youth need employment, but the government has failed miserably in giving employment to them.” He also used the hashtag #JawabDoMantriJi (answer, minister).
Gandhi shared a newspaper clipping in which Sitharaman took a swipe at him, as she had not shared employment figures. In the article, Sitharaman had said that if she gave out employment numbers, Gandhi might question her a few months later, the Hindustan Times reported. “I would wait for a few months before giving any number,” she said in the report.
On Sunday, Gandhi tweeted a video of the prime minister doing yoga, and wrote: “Please try your magical exercise routine a few more times. You never know, it might just start the economy”.
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy had said in November that India’s unemployment rate in October rose to 8.48% – the highest since August 2016. In May, the government had released a report by the National Sample Survey Organisation, which showed that India’s unemployment rate rose to a 45-year high of 6.1% in 2017-’18.
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