INDORE: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Saturday hit out at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme in Indore, accusing the Congress leader of creating confusion among people and saying that discussions on the state’s development should be based on facts and figures.
Reacting to Gandhi’s interaction with children and young people during the programme, Yadav said the Congress should have raised issues concerning Madhya Pradesh using actual data rather than what he described as an attempt to mislead the public.
Yadav said his government had undertaken several initiatives in school education, including the establishment of Sandipani schools, and claimed these measures had contributed significantly to reducing the school dropout rate. He said the government was working towards achieving zero dropouts in the state.
Citing figures from the Congress era, Yadav said the school dropout rate in Madhya Pradesh was around 16 per cent in 2002-03. He said the state’s school education budget, which stood at around Rs 2,000 crore at the time, had now increased to Rs 38,658 crore.
The Chief Minister also questioned the Congress over welfare measures provided to schoolchildren during its tenure, asking whether children had been given uniforms and bicycles and whether meritorious students had received facilities such as laptops and scooters.
“Our government is continuously working to improve children’s education and secure their future,” Yadav said.
On medical education, Yadav said Madhya Pradesh had only five medical colleges between 1956 and 2002-03, while one more was established during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said the state now has 33 medical colleges.
According to Yadav, the number of medical college seats in Madhya Pradesh had increased from around 680 during the Congress period to more than 7,000 at present.
The Chief Minister also cited economic indicators to highlight what he described as the state’s progress. He said per capita income had risen from around Rs 11,000 in 2002-03 to Rs 1.59 lakh. He further claimed that Madhya Pradesh’s power-generation capacity had increased from around 5,000 MW in 2002-03 to approximately 32,000 MW.
On employment, Yadav claimed that Madhya Pradesh currently has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. He said recruitment was underway for around 18,000 posts in the police department, with approximately 10,000 young people already trained and inducted into the police service.
He also said recruitment was underway for 10,000 posts in the School Education Department and that 7,000 teachers had already been recruited.
Yadav said his government had also carried out promotions against more than one lakh posts and was moving towards its target of creating one lakh posts every year.
Taking another swipe at Gandhi’s Indore programme, Yadav said that if the Leader of Opposition genuinely wanted to interact with the people of Madhya Pradesh, he should have discussed the state’s development on the basis of facts and figures.
Instead, Yadav described the programme as an “Echo of Lies” and said that rather than focusing primarily on singing and music, the event should have addressed the development of Madhya Pradesh and issues affecting its people.
