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Rahul Gandhi's ‘16 crore jobs’ dig at PM Modi as Cheetahs return to India
The Congress decided to observe September 17, which happens to be Modi’s birthday, as “National Unemployment Day”.
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi released three of the eight Cheetahs translocated from Namibia into a special enclosure at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a potshot at the former asking “why didn't 16 crore jobs come in eight years”.
“8 cheetahs have come. Now tell me, why didn't 16 crore jobs come in 8 years? There is a challenge for the youth, they will get employment,” Gandhi, who is on the Congress's ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, tweeted in Hindi with the hashtag “National Unemployment Day”.
The Congress decided to observe September 17, which happens to be Modi’s birthday, as “National Unemployment Day”.
Addressing a huge crowd at the end of the eighth day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi had said India was facing its worst-ever unemployment problem because of the politics of hatred.
Earlier in the day, eight big cats from Namibia made the long trek on Saturday in a chartered cargo flight to Gwalior, part of an ambitious and hotly contested plan to reintroduce cheetahs to India.
Then they were moved to their new home: the sprawling national park where scientists hope the world’s fastest land animal will roam again.
“When the cheetah will run again … grasslands will be restored, biodiversity will increase and eco-tourism will get a boost,” said Modi.
Also Read | No political importance but we made continuous efforts: PM Modi on 8 cheetahs
But senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dubbed Modi’s move to release Cheetahs as a "tactic to divert attention" from the grand old party's "immensely successful" 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
Ramesh claimed that the BJP's "dirty tricks department" had been working overtime for the last few days to throw a spanner in the Congress yatra.
"It has been ten days since the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' started, and the spontaneous response we received showed that the initiative is turning out to be immensely successful.
"This has perplexed the BJP and its leadership. They now want to change the narrative and have been trying to look for diversionary tactics," the former Union minister said, addressing a press conference.
(With inputs from agencies)
