Future of youth in limbo due to BJP's anti-education mindset: Rahul Gandhi

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the youth of the country have been completely demoralised by unemployment, and claimed their future is in "limbo" due to the BJP's "anti-education mindset".

The former Congress president's remarks came over a media report, which claimed that the salaries of engineers graduating from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in 2024 have experienced a decline due to the slowdown in hiring.

"The ill-effects of the economic slowdown are now being faced by the country's most prestigious institutes like IITs. The continuous fall in placements from IITs and the drop in annual package are further hurting the condition of the youth which is facing the peak of unemployment," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on his WhatsApp channel.

The Congress leader claimed that 19 per cent of students could not get campus placements in 2022 and the same rate doubled to 38 per cent this year. "When this is the condition of the most famous and respected educational institutions of the country, what will be the plight of the rest of the institutions!" Gandhi said.

"Today the youth is completely demoralised by unemployment — parents are spending lakhs to get professional education, while students are forced to study by taking loans at high interest rates. Then not getting a job or an ordinary income is only causing a decline in their financial condition," he added.

Gandhi said this is the result of the "anti-education" mindset of the BJP due to which the future of the meritorious youth of this country is in "limbo".

Does the Modi government have any plan to free the hardworking youth of India from this crisis? he asked. The Opposition will continue to raise the voice of the youth with all its might and will hold the government accountable for this "injustice", Gandhi said.