Rahul Gandhi chides Modi govt over privatisation plan for PSUs, hurls cronyism jibe

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took an aim at the Modi government over its planned drive to disinvest from public sector units, alleging that privatisation of state-run firms will do 'vikas' (development) to PM Modi's 'mitrons' (friends).

"Today, the country is facing many disasters caused by the Modi government, one of which is unnecessary privatization. The youth want jobs but the Modi government is destroying employment and investment by privatizing PSUs. Whose benefit?" the Wayanad MP wrote in Hindi on Twitter Monday.

He then coined a rhyming phrase in Hindi: "Bas chand mitron ka vikas, jo hai Modi Ji ke khaas (Development to just a few friends who are special to Modi Ji)." "Stop Privatisation Save Govt Jobs," he added.

Earlier, he had hit out at the Centre over the issue of recruitment to government posts, alleging that the Modi dispensation's thinking is "minimum government, maximum privatisation". With his tweet attacking the government, Gandhi tagged a media report which said there would be a freeze on creation of new posts except with the approval of the expenditure department. The COVID-19 pandemic is just an excuse and the intention is to make government offices "free" of permanent staff, he alleged.

The Congress has been vehemently in opposition to the Centre's planned policy of 'strategic disinvestment' by which it hopes to raise capital and support an economy performing its worst in several decades.

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Relentless charges on Modi govt

Rahul Gandhi has been pushing out videos on social media almost every other day where he gives a 3-4 minute monologue on issues facing the country and critiques the Modi government's policies and decisions. He has touched on several issues related to the economy and "on how the Modi Govt has destroyed Indian economy".

In a video released on September 3, Gandhi had said that demonetisation was an attack on India's informal sector which mainly included poor labourers, farmers and small shopkeepers. In the first video released on August 31, he accused PM Modi's government of 'destroying the informal sector' of the country and trying to suppress it. According to him, BJP has been attacking the informal economy since the last six years of its rule through GST, demonetization, and nation-wide lockdown.

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