NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on the Shaheen Bagh protest, asking the PM whether the unprecedented rise in unemployment was a 'sanyog' or a 'prayog'?
At a Delhi election rally on Monday, the Prime Minister had said the protests being staged against the new citizenship law in Shaheen Bagh and other areas were not a sanyog (coincidence) but a prayog (experiment). He alleged that there was a political conspiracy to so disharmony in the country.
Taking on the prime minister, Priyanka Gandhi cited a recent report that said 3.5 crore jobs have been lost in the last five years in seven important sectors.
"When the PM comes to give a speech in front of you, he does not even make a mention of job losses. Can he tell us whether the job losses are a 'sanyog' or a 'prayog'? Can he tell us why the unemployment rate is the highest in 35 years? Ye kya sanyog tha, ya prayog tha unka?" she said at a joint rally with Rahul Gandhi at Sangam Vihar.
Priyanka Gandhi said it's true the PM works at a fast pace, and went on to add, "It is true that state corporations are being sold at a fast pace. They sold LIC, BPCL, Air India, BSNL and our even planning to sell railways. His pace is really fast. The Congress government lifted 14 crore people out of poverty but in five years they (the BJP) have rapidly pushed people back into poverty," the Congress leader alleged.
She also attacked Union home minister Amit Shah's remarks that "we (the BJP) will make Delhi like UP."
"I am the Congress general secretary of UP. Let me tell you what he has made of UP. It was a state that had the most potential. What is the state of affairs now," she asked.
"The unemployment rate in UP is the highest. Every two minutes a woman is raped. Every 90 minutes there is a crime against a child. Everyday there is an atrocity against 30 Dalits. The maximum number of murders are in UP, unemployment is at the top while education is languishing at the bottom," Priynaka Gandhi said.
"This is the state of affairs in UP where they have a government and they say that they want to make Delhi like UP. There is crime, anarchy and no sign of development in UP," she said.
Priyanka Gandhi also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party, saying it is claiming credit for work done by former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
"Prime minister Narendra Modi invests Rs 5,200 crore in publicity, Arvind Kejriwal is not far behind and has spent Rs 611 crore for the Delhi polls," she said.
"What is the need for publicity if work is doing the talking for them," Priyanka Gandhi said.
