The same day that Union Home Ministry told Rajya Sabha that as many as 9,140 people died by suicide due to unemployment in the years 2018 to 2020, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bangalore South Tejasvi Surya claimed that there is no unemployment in the country.
Surya, on Wednesday, 9 February, was countering Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark that unemployment has severely risen in the country. He further took a dig at the Congress leader and said, the “only unemployed person is the prince of Congress party.”
Earlier in the day, the Home Ministry had informed the Rajya Sabha that as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the number of suicides due to unemployment during 2018, 2019, and 2020 stood at 9,140.
The upper house was further informed that the number of suicides that took place due to bankruptcy or indebtedness during this period was 16,091.
On Wednesday evening, while participating in the discussion on the budget in Lok Sabha, Surya said, “Before Modi there was double-digit inflation. Now we have single-digit inflation. Before the size of India’s GDP was Rs 110 lakh crore. After Modi, the size of the GDP is Rs 230 lakh crore. Before Modi, India’s exports were Rs 2.85 lakh crore. After Modi, it is Rs 4.7 lakh crore.”
Surya further said, “If the GDP has increased multiple times, if FDI has increased multiple times, if the number of unicorns have increased multiple times, how can there be no employment generation. The Congress party and their dynastic leaders are confusing their political unemployment as unemployment in the country. The hardworking and talented people have all the opportunities. The only unemployed person is the prince of the Congress party,” The Indian Express reported.
Several opposition MPs have raised the issue of unemployment multiple times during the ongoing budget session. The MPs have claimed that Union Budget 2022 did not provide much to deal with the issue in the country in the wake of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Congress’ Pradyot Bordoloi reminded the Lok Sabha of when lakhs of diyas were lit by the Yogi Adityanath government in Ayodhya and how after the function, people were found collecting mustard oil from them.
Referring to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Bordoloi said, “When Swamyji became CM, mustard oil was Rs 70 a litre, it is now Rs 250 a litre. Under the façade of pomp and gaiety around monumental structures and statues, actually lies the human cost of economic devastation in India.”
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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