Unemployment imposed by BJP biggest issue in Lok Sabha polls: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said the biggest issue in the Lok Sabha elections is the unemployment "imposed by the BJP", claiming the youth are struggling to find jobs and the country is staring at a "demographic nightmare".

In a post on X, Kharge said the 'Pehli Naukri Pakki' guarantee under the 'Yuva Nyay' initiative by the Congress would remove the barriers that separate work and learning, opening fresh avenues for career growth.

"The biggest issue in these Lok Sabha elections is unemployment, imposed by the BJP. Our youth are struggling to find jobs, and we are staring at a demographic nightmare," the Congress president claimed.

Citing the case of India's premier institutes, such as IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institute of Management), Kharge said across 12 IITs, around 30 per cent of students are not getting regular placements.

"Only 20% of 21 IIMs could complete the summer placements so far. If this is the situation in IITs and IIMs, then one can imagine how the BJP has destroyed the future of our Youth across the country," he said.

The rate of youth unemployment under the Modi government has tripled since 2014, he said.

"The ILO's recent India Employment Report showed that each year, India adds around 70-80 lakh youths to the labour force, but between 2012 and 2019, there was almost ZERO growth in employment - just 0.01%!" Kharge said in his post on X.

"Modi Ki Guarantee about providing 2 crore jobs reverberates as a bad dream in the hearts and minds of our Youth!" he said. Therefore, the Congress party has brought in the 'Pehli Naukri Pakki' guarantee under 'Yuva Nyay', he added.

Any diploma or degree holder below the age of 25 will now have a legal right to demand employment and shall be paid at least Rs 1 lakh a year, Kharge said. "This would remove the barriers that separate work and learning, thereby opening fresh avenues for career growth," he added.

The Congress released its Lok Sabha poll manifesto on 5 April, focusing on five "pillars of justice (Panch Nyay)" and 25 guarantees under those, at the Congress headquarters in Delhi in the presence of Kharge and senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Right to apprenticeship, a legal guarantee of a minimum support price (MSP) for crops, a Constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), a nationwide caste census and scrapping the Agnipath scheme for short-term military recruitment are among the promises made by the Congress in the manifesto.