Modi government ‘snatching away’ reservation by ‘blindly’ implementing privatisation: Rahul Gandhi

PTI, May 2, 2024, 1:44 PM IST

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Modi government of “clandestinely snatching away” reservation from Dalits, tribals and backward classes by “blindly” implementing privatisation, and said his party guarantees strengthening the public sector enterprises and open the doors for employment.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said the mantra of Narendra Modi’s campaign to remove reservation is — ‘na rahega baans, na bajegi bansuri’, meaning neither there will be government jobs nor any reservation will be available.

“The BJP government is clandestinely snatching away reservation from Dalits, tribals and backward classes by eliminating government jobs through ‘blind privatisation’,” the former Congress chief said.

In 2013, there were 14 lakh permanent posts in the public sector, which by 2023 stood at 8.4 lakh, he said.

“By ruining top PSU’s like BSNL, SAIL, BHEL etc., nearly 6 lakh permanent jobs were eliminated from the public sector alone — these are the very posts which would have given the benefit of reservation,” Gandhi said.

There is no count of the jobs that are being eliminated through the back door in institutions such as railways by giving government work on contract, he claimed.

“The ‘privatisation’ of the Modi model is a plunder of the country’s resources, through which the reservation of the deprived is being snatched away,” he alleged.

The Congress guarantees that it will strengthen the public sector enterprises and open the doors for employment for every section of the society by filling 30 lakh vacant government posts, Gandhi said.