On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of "clandestinely snatching away" reservation from Dalits, tribals and backward classes by "blindly" implementing privatisation. He asserted that his party is committed to bolstering public sector enterprises and creating employment opportunities.
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 eradicating government jobs through indiscriminate privatization," asserted the former Congress chief.
In 2013, there were 14 lakh permanent posts in the public sector, which by 2023 stood at 8.4 lakh, he said. By decimating top PSUs like BSNL, SAIL, BHEL, etc., nearly 6 lakh permanent jobs were eradicated from the public sector alone — these are the very positions that would have afforded the advantage of reservation, Gandhi stated.
"There is no tally of the jobs being eradicated through the back door in institutions such as railways by outsourcing government work," 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.