Congress slams Modi govt for its failures

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for its failures on domestic as well as diplomatic fronts by saying that the Modi government has led to an unprecedented employment crisis for youth and working citizens.

In a statement, senior Congress leader KC Venugopal said in that the Modi government at the Centre “has proved to be singularly and uniquely disastrous for the country.”

“Consistently pulling the country down on all socioeconomic indices ever since it came into power in 2014, the thoughtless and mindless decisions taken by it especially during the last three months or since the COVID-19 pandemic began have wreaked havoc,” said Venugopal, who is Rajya Sabha MP and AICC general secretary.

“As if the nearly 13 crore domestic job losses were not enough - with many states reaching unemployment figures of 40 per cent, the decision by the US to suspend H-1B Visa effective from June 24 will result in about 2 lakh Indians being sent back home. Additionally of all the 85,000 H-1B Visas, since more than 60,000 were being availed by Indians, it would mean as many lost job opportunities for Indians,” he said.

“A bigger tragedy is staring at Indians in the Gulf with the Kuwait government bringing about legislation limiting the number of Indians to not exceed more than 15 per cent of the total expat-population. This in effect would mean that 8.5 lakhs Indians in Kuwait, who were till now sending home hard currency and sustaining the economy of many states like Kerala, will be forced to leave the country and come back home where nothing but despair awaits them,” he said.

In 2018, India received close to USD 4.8 billion (approx. Rs 35,939 crore at present rate) from Kuwait as remittances,” he added.