BHOPAL: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s Manipur-Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered the 50th day, as the Wayanad MP interacted with ex-servicemen and Agnipath Scheme aspirants in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday.
Before leaving to attend the opposition parties rally in Patna, the Congress leader targeted the Narendra Modi government, particularly on the issue of unemployment.
“India is currently going through the highest unemployment in the last 40 years. Unemployment rate in India which presently stands at 23% is almost double of Pakistan’s unemployment rate which stands at 12%. The rate of unemployment in the country is even higher than Bangladesh and Bhutan,” Gandhi claimed.
“This massive unemployment has been caused due to destruction of small and medium businesses/industries by Narendra Modi government’s GST and demonetization,” he added.
Attacking the central government on the Agnipath Scheme, he said, “The Agniveers will neither get pension nor canteen benefits and won’t even get the martyrs status. According to me this is gross injustice to you by the present government at the centre, which is why I’m raising this issue before you.”
Importantly, it’s Gwalior-Chambal region mainly, which since decades has been sending maximum personnel to the Indian defense forces from MP.
Just a short while before interacting with the Agnipath scheme aspirants and ex-servicemen (besides some youths, who’ve been waiting for recruitment in defence forces despite having complied with all requirements since 2021), Gandhi had taken to the social media platform X, accusing the central government of making the railway journey expensive by raising fares by 10% every year, introduction of dynamic fare system, cancellation charges, expensive platform tickets and snatching the concessions previously available to senior citizens.
Earlier on Saturday, the Yatra entered MP through Morena district, where he held a roadshow and also addressed people. On Saturday evening, he addressed a public meeting amid rains and strong winds in Gwalior.
According to AICC in-charge for communications, Jairam Ramesh, the Yatra didn’t happen on Sunday afternoon, as Rahul Gandhi had to leave for attending a rally of opposition parties in Patna. The Yatra will resume on Monday in Shivpuri district.
While Gwalior is union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s home turf, Shivpuri district forms part of Guna Lok Sabha seat from where Scindia was named the BJP candidate on Saturday for the coming national elections.
Scindia who won the seat four times as Congress candidate in the past, was defeated by his protégé and BJP candidate Dr KP Singh Yadav in the 2019 elections. Yadav, however, has been denied ticket this time by the BJP, despite the LS seat spread in three districts housing more than 3 lakh Yadav caste voters.