Gangwar’s employment remark draws Oppn flak, aide clarifies
BAREILLY: Opposition leaders targeted Union labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar and accused him of insulting people of north India on Sunday, a day after his reported remarks that there was no dearth of employment opportunities in the country but recruiters visiting the region complained of a lack of “quality people” to fill vacancies.
“Desh mein rozgaar ki kami nahi hai. Humare Uttar Bharat mein jo recruitment karne aate hain is baat ka sawaal karte hain ki jis padd ke liye hum rakh rahe hain uski quality ka vyakti humein kum milta hai (There is no dearth of employment opportunities in north India. People who come for recruitment in north India complain that they get only a few qualified people for the posts for which they are recruiting),” Gangwar told reporters on Saturday in Bareilly, his Lok Sabha constituency.
“The issue of employment keeps figuring in newspapers these days. I am handling the same ministry for labour and employment and examine the issue daily. I have understood the problem,” Gangwar said.
On Sunday, an aide of Gangwar clarified that he only referred to what others told him and this was not his opinion.
The person, who did not want to be identified, pointed out that the minister never mentioned that people in north India don’t have the ability or qualification, and that he referred only to the issue of quality.
“We are doing a lot of work to improve skill training...the Career Service Portal has been designed to help all job seekers and there are 400,000 people enrolled in the portal,” he said.
But the minister’s comments drew sharp reactions from the Opposition, with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saying the government was trying to escape blame for job losses due to economic slowdown by such “insulting” comments.
“Mr Minister, it has been more than five years for your government. There is no job creation. Whatever jobs were there, they have been snatched due to the economic slowdown brought by the government. You want to escape by insulting north Indians,” she said.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said such comments are laughable. “After the different laughable statements by Union ministers on the issue of economic slowdown, instead of removing unemployment now it is being said that there is no shortage of jobs, but of competence, especially amongst north Indians. This is extremely shameful and an apology should be tendered to the nation,” she tweeted.