New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the biggest issue before the country is to tackle the problem of unemployment and neither the UPA nor the NDA governments have given an answer to the youth of the country.
Participating in the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said, "The future of this country is going to be decided by the youth of India. I think anything we say has to be addressed to them."
"The first thing in front of us and this is something, I am sure the Prime Minister will accept and pretty much everybody in this room will accept is that even though, we have grown and are still growing, a universal problem we have faced is that we have not been able to tackle the problem of unemployment. Neither the UPA government nor today's NDA government have given a clear-cut answer to the youth of India about employment," he said.
While calling the government's "Make in India" a "good idea", Rahul said despite the functions and investments, the "manufacturing fell from 15.3 percent of GDP in 2014 to 12.6 percent of GDP today, which is the lowest share of manufacturing in 60 years".
He said Make in India was "conceptually a good idea and the Prime Minister tried. But it is clear that the PM failed".
Referring to the President's address, the former Congress Pesident said: "I've heard the same address before, and it is was the same laundry list of things".
Gandhi reiterated that "China is sitting on 4,000 sq km of Indian land", adding that the "Prime Minister has denied it, whereas the army disagrees with the Prime Minister".
The treasury benches objected to the statement with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju saying the member should authenticate what he says and not speak without proof.
Gandhi said he was concerned over the impact of Chinese imports on Indian youth.
He also raised the Maharashtra assembly elections and said, "Between the Lok Sabha election and the Vidhan Sabha election, the population of Himachal Pradesh was added to the voting rolls of Maharashtra. Almost 70 lakh new voters suddenly arrived."
He added, "More voters were added in five months than were added in five years. In a building in Shirdi, 7000 voters. I'm still saying the Election Commission has to give the data of the Maharashtra elections to the Congress party, the Shiv Sena-UBT and the NCP-Sharad Pawar".
Questioning the process of appointment of the Election Commissioner, Rahul Gandhi said, "The Election Commissioner used to be chosen by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice. However, the Chief Justice was removed from this committee. This raises a crucial question for the Prime Minister: why was this change made?"
With the Constitution in his hand, Gandhi said, "I remember the BJP gave the poll cry of 400 paar and that they'll change the Constitution. But after the elections, I was glad to see that the PM was humbled and was forced to bow his head before the Constitution. It was a moment of pride for the Congress party as we were able to explain to the BJP and the nation that no force can touch the Constitution".
