The Congress called Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing the Cheetahs in a Madhya Pradesh national park a “tamasha,” aimed at diverting attention from important national issues like unemployment and the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Congress’ communication chief Jairam Ramesh also recalled that it was the Congress-led UPA government that had first thought of the Cheetah project.
“PM hardly ever acknowledges continuity in governance. Cheetah project going back to my visit to Capetown on 25.04.2010 is the latest example. The tamasha orchestrated by PM today is unwarranted and is yet another diversion from pressing national issues and Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Mr. Ramesh, who was the Environment and Forest minister during 2009-11, tweeted on Saturday.
Mr. Ramesh added that when tigers were first translocated to Panna and Sariska during 2009-11, there were many prophets of doom but they were proved wrong.
“Similar predictions are being made on the Cheetah project. The professionals involved are first-rate and I wish the project the very best!” he said.
Eight African Cheetahs were flown in from Namibia as part of the ‘African Cheetah Introduction Project in India’.
Prime Minister Modi, who turned 72 on Saturday, released two cheetahs into a special enclosure at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh.
While several Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor wished the Prime Minister on his birthday, the Congress also used the occasion to target his government over unemployment and price rise.
“Eight cheetahs have come. Now tell us why 16 crore jobs have not come in the past eight years,”tweeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, referring to the BJP’s pre-2014 Lok Sabha election promise pf providing two crore jobs every year.
“The youth have given a call that they won’t relent without getting a job,”Mr gandhi added with the hashtag #NationalUnemploymentDay
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “It worries and pains me that Mr. Modi’s birthday is being celebrated by the youth of this country as National Unemployment Day”.
Ms. Shrinate said it is a huge cause of concern that despite India being the youngest country in the world, 60% of the country’s working-age population is either unemployed or not looking for work.
“In fact, in the 20-24 age group, 42% of the youth are unemployed. If this is not a worrying situation, I wonder what is. And the Prime Minister can neither hide behind COVID nor the Russia-Ukraine war because unemployment peaked at a 45-year high even before the first case of COVID was reported. The latest unemployment rate of 8.3% is a hugely worrying thing for our economy and population,”she said.
Why is it that there are no national debates and the government doesn’t want to discuss the important issue of unemployment, she asked.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC), led by B V Srinivas, organised ‘ Berojgari Mela (unemployment fairs)‘ across the country to mark Prime Minister Modi’s birthday.
