Rajasthan: Lathi charge on Youth Congress workers demanding restoration of yuva mitra scheme

Police on Wednesday used water cannons and resorted to a lathi charge to disperse protesting Youth Congress workers, who were demanding the re-employment of people working under the state's now scrapped Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra scheme.

The BJP government scrapped the scheme, a flagship programme of the previous Congress regime, weeks after coming to power in Rajasthan.

The scheme employed 'yuva mitras (friends of the youth)' to create awareness about government services, and the employees were given stipends.

After holding a meeting at state capital Jaipur's Shaheed Smarak, the Youth Congress workers began a march to gherao chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma's residence.

The protestors were stopped near the police commissionerate. When they did not pay heed to warnings, the police resorted to cane charging and used water cannons to disperse the crowd.rajasthan

Youth Congress national president B.V. Srinivas, who participated in the protest, said 5,000 Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra employees should be given back their jobs.

Addressing party workers, he said the BJP had formed the government by making false promises. Asserting that the Centre had not fulfilled a single promise, Srinivas said the BJP had promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh into bank accounts of every citizen, which never came.

Srinivas also said the government should hold talks with the protesting farmers at the Punjab-Haryana border and accept all their demands.

Youth Congress state president Abhimanyu Poonia said the state government had lost the people's trust in just two-and-a-half months. "The government is not living up to the promises it had made to the youth and farmers. No jobs have been created for the unemployed youth in the state," he said.