'After 6 weeks of campaign, no convincing solution on unemployment and inflation from govt', says former FM P Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday criticised the ruling government and PM Narendra Modi for not addressing the two most pressing issues, unemployment and inflation, in their election campaign. The campaigning for the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 57 seats in seven states and the Union territory of Chandigarh ended on May 30. The seventh and the last phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held on June 1, 2024.

"As the curtains come down on the LS 2024 elections, there were two surprises. Unlike in 2014 and 2019,  Mr Narendra Modi failed to set the narrative of the election. The Congress exhibited an unusual aggressiveness and its Manifesto became the talking point(s) of the election campaign. After 6 weeks of the campaign, the unhappy conclusion is that the party that ruled India for 10 years did not come up with a convincing explanation or solution to the two topmost concerns of the people -- unemployment and inflation," Chidambaram wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier too, former finance minister Chidambaram had challenged PM Modi on his claims about digital economy and job creation.

Chidambaram wrote': "Hon'ble Prime Minister said that the digital economy grew 2.4 times faster than the overall economy between 2014 and 2019 and created 6 crore jobs (see ET interview): If the PM makes a statement, I am sure that he has the data to support the statement. Respectfully, here are a few questions: 1. Will you please make public the data and the source of the data? 2. Why stop with 2019? What happened between 2019 and 2024? 3. If 6 crore jobs were created in just ONE sector, what is the total number of jobs that were created during 2014-2019?."

He further asked: "4. Why is the unemployment rate 42 per cent among graduates? Did not the digital economy employ them? 5. Why are 38% of the class of 2024 in IITs still not placed in jobs? Are IIT graduates shunned by the digital economy?."

Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third consecutive term from Varanasi.

PM Modi today began his 45-hour-long meditation at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari. Modi will meditate from the evening of Thursday to the evening of June 1 at Dhyan Mandapam, the place where revered Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda is believed to have had a divine vision about 'Bharat Mata'.