A third of Uttar Pradesh’s youth are unemployed, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Sunday, claiming that the policies of the BJP’s ‘double engine’ government in the State and Centre have dealt a ‘double blow’ to jobless youths in the country’s most populous State.
“Double engine government means double blow to the unemployed. Today, every third youth in U.P. is suffering from the problem of unemployment. More than 1.5 lakh government posts are vacant, graduates, postgraduates and PhD holders are standing in line even for the posts that require minimum qualification,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X, accompanied by a photograph of thousands of candidates jammed into a Kanpur railway station to appear in the U.P. police constable recruitment examination.
“Lakhs of students have become over age after waiting for years for recruitments from the Army to Railways and from education to police. A student trapped in this vicious cycle of despair is falling victim to depression,” added the Congress leader.
Injustice of leaked papers
Mr. Gandhi is undertaking the U.P. leg of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and resumed the journey from Prayagraj on Sunday afternoon, attending events and a road show in the city. “Paper leak is an injustice to those youth and their parents who dream of a secure future by investing all their capital and hard work. There is no one else responsible for this injustice but the Prime Minister of the country,” the Congress MP said, while talking to job aspirants at the road show. Prayagraj is a major centre in the State for students preparing for government recruitment examinations.
The Congress leader is travelling from Manipur to Mumbai, covering 15 States, pushing for economic, social and political justice for every Indian through the yatra, which entered U.P. via Chandauli on February 16. He is likely to spend a week in India’s most politically crucial State, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
“In U.P., the yatra of Rahul Ji has huge impact. The unemployed youth, farmers and various section of society are interacting with him and sharing their grievances,” said Manish Upadhyay, a U.P. Congress leader and former National General Secretary, All India Youth Congress.
