Kolkata: TMC Leader Amit Mitra Criticizes PM Modi’s Unmet Promises and Highlights Youth Unemployment
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Amit Mitra, addressing a press conference on Sunday, criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to deliver on his guarantees on various issues. Mitra highlighted that 83% of unemployed individuals in the country are youths.
Mitra reaffirmed the TMC’s commitment to the INDIA alliance, noting that the recent rebuff from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is an internal matter for the Congress party.
“Approximately 83% of the jobless population in the country are young men and women,” stated Mitra, the former Finance Minister of West Bengal in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet. “Two-thirds of educated young men and women are unemployed.”
He criticized the NDA government’s Skill India programme, alleging it has failed to yield the desired results, with only around 4% of the country’s youth receiving vocational training.
Highlighting further issues, Mitra claimed, “Prime Minister Modi’s guarantees on various issues have not materialized. For instance, 51 crimes against women are committed every hour in the country.”
He also pointed out that household net financial savings in India have reached the lowest point in 50 years. Mitra alleged that the minimum support price (MSP) promised to farmers is not being provided, resulting in “30 farmer suicides every day.”
Mitra noted a significant rise in the country’s external debt, stating, “It has doubled in the last ten years, increasing from Rs 3,65,000 crore to Rs 7,48,000 crore in the 2022-23 financial year.”
Accusing the BJP-led NDA government of withholding funds from West Bengal after the TMC’s decisive victory in the 2021 assembly polls, Mitra said, “We have not received a single rupee under MNREGA and Awas Yojana because they lost in 2021. Is this the Prime Minister’s guarantee?”
He also mentioned the success of the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme, which has financially empowered over 2.15 crore women in Bengal, and noted that the BJP is now proposing to increase financial support for women by Rs 100.
Reiterating the TMC’s allegiance to the INDIA alliance, Mitra emphasized, “As far as the Trinamool Congress is concerned, we were among the founders of the INDIA alliance, we remain committed, and we will continue to be part of it, as per Mamata Banerjee’s position.”
The TMC had previously accused Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of being an obstacle to the alliance in West Bengal.