Rahul Gandhi blames unemployment epidemic for Bharuch railing collapse

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, 11 July claimed that the "disease of unemployment" has taken the form of an epidemic in India, and alleged that the BJP-ruled states have become the "epicentre of this disease".

His remarks came over the incident of a stampede-like situation witnessed after some 800 people turned up for walk-in interviews held by a firm for 40 vacancies in Ankleshwar in Gujarat's Bharuch district.

Videos of a massive queue, marked by pushing and shoving as aspirants tried to get a toehold on a ramp leading to the entrance of a hotel where the interview was being held, went viral on social media.

The railing of the ramp finally collapsed, leading to several aspirants falling off, though no one was injured.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "The 'disease of unemployment' has taken the form of an epidemic in India and BJP-ruled states have become the 'epicentre' of this disease."

"The 'future of India' standing in queues for a common job is the reality of Narendra Modi's 'Amrit Kaal'," the former Congress chief said.

Sharing the video, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also hit out at the BJP.

"This video is proof of the 'cheating model' that BJP has played on the people of Gujarat for the last 22 years. This video is also solid proof of the way the Modi government has snatched jobs from the youth and ruined their future for the last 10 years," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

"The BJP's promise of providing two crore jobs annually -- Paper leak, recruitment corruption, education mafia, keeping government jobs vacant for years, knowingly not filling SC/ST/OBC/EWS posts, recruitment on contract by bringing schemes like Agniveer, and leaving crores of youth to wander from door to door' -- has fallen prey to all these!" Kharge said.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh too lashed out at the BJP over the video.

In a post in Hindi on X, Ramesh said, “This video is enough to expose the so-called Modi model which is being promoted across the country.”

“This crowd of youth for jobs at a private hotel is clear proof that only the rich have benefited in Gujarat. The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 30 years, yet unemployment in the state is at a terrible level,” he said.