Modi's guarantees "not delivered", 83 per cent youths jobless in country: TMC

Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantees on various issues had not been delivered, senior Trinamool Congress leader Amit Mitra on Sunday, 19 May, claimed that 83 per cent of jobless people in the country are youths.

"Around 83 per cent of the jobless people in the country are young men and women," Mitra, a former finance minister of West Bengal in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet, claimed at a press conference in Kolkata.

"Two-thirds of the educated young men and women are unemployed," he said.

Claiming that the Skill India programme of the NDA government for preparing skilled manpower has not borne the desired fruits, he alleged that only around 4 per cent of the country's youth are getting vocational training.

Alleging that PM Modi's guarantees on various issues have not been delivered in actuality, he claimed "that 51 crimes against women are committed every hour in the country."

The former finance minister of Bengal claimed that 'household net financial savings' in the country has reached the lowest point in 50 years.

Claiming that the guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) was not being given to farmers for their produce, Mitra alleged that "30 farmers commit suicide every day."

He claimed that the external debt of the country has increased 100 per cent in the last ten years. "It has risen from Rs 3,65,000 crore ten years back to Rs 7,48,000 crore in the 2022-23 financial year," he said.

Mitra claimed that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has stopped funds to the state after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls with a huge number of seats.

"We have not received a single rupee under MNREGA and Awas Yojana because they lost in 2021," he said, asking whether this was "the prime minister's guarantee."

Stating that more than 2.15 crore women of Bengal have been financially empowered under the 'Lakshmir Bhandar' scheme, Mitra said that now the BJP is also speaking of increasing the money to women by Rs 100.

Mitra reiterated the party's stand that the TMC is with the opposition INDIA alliance, stating that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's rebuff to senior party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and his retort is their internal matter.

"As far as Trinamool Congress is concerned, we were with the INDIA alliance as one of the founders, we are there and we will be in it, this is Mamata Banerjee's position," he said.

The TMC had earlier accused Chowdhury of being a stumbling block in the alliance in the state.