Modi government has closed all paths of employment for youth, says Rahul Gandhi

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Friday (August 22, 2025), continued his attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission during the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bhagalpur, amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise underway in Bihar.

Mr. Gandhi, while addressing a public meeting in Kahalgaon, alleged that names of people who vote for the Opposition were being removed during the SIR.

“Today, vote thief Narendra Modi came to Gaya and talked about the SIR. But he didn’t speak about the one lakh fake votes that surfaced in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura Assembly constituency. He didn’t speak about the elections in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Also Read | BJP using Election Commission of India to snatch people’s right to vote, says Tejashwi Yadav

He further said, “The truth is that the BJP and the Election Commissioner are together stealing your votes. According to the Constitution, all people in the country are equal regardless of anyone’s caste or religion. The Constitution has given one person one vote but Narendra Modi and the Election Commission together are snatching your vote from you, which is an attack on the Constitution.”

The Congress leader called on stage Amarnath Jaiswal, a youth from Ayodhya, to speak on the ordeal of serving the armed forces under the Agnipath scheme. The youth expressed his anger towards the Modi government as he was forced to quit in two years after losing a finger during his service.

“Narendra Modi has closed all paths for the youth. Earlier, millions of our youth used to join the Army. They protected the country, received pensions, and were taken care of. Today, an Agniveer has lost his finger, but no help is being provided to him. He has been sent back home,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who accompanied the Congress leader, asked people to change the “government of the cheater”.

“People of Bihar will teach lessons to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. There is no employment in the State and people want change. This election is going to be the last for Nitish Kumar. He is not returning to power and BJP will settle his account after the election,” Mr. Yadav said.

Earlier in the day, RJD’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Yadav, Congress leader Jitu Patwari and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani jointly attacked Mr. Modi over his Gaya visit at a press conference.

“Narendra Modi said that infiltrators have entered. It has been 11 years since you [Modi] came to power, so should it be understood that you are not capable of stopping them? Where did the infiltrators come from while your government was in power? Bihar is the youngest State in the country, with 58% of the population aged between 18 and 25 years, but there are only seven colleges per 1 lakh population,” Mr. Sanjay Yadav said.

He further said, “In the last 10 years, Bihar has not received a single Central school or Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. In the last 11 years, Bihar has not been given any industry or factory. The people of Bihar need industries and businesses, but Narendra Modi does not talk about industry, education, or better healthcare. The next time he comes to Bihar, he should tell the public why, under your tenure as Prime Minister, Bihar has the lowest per capita income?”

Mr. Patwari questioned the BJP’s development model and said it had no farmer policy, no employment plan, no blueprint for education, but only a bundle of slogans and a bag of lies.

“These people ask for votes after planting trees and cut down thousands of trees for election rallies. This is the BJP’s ‘Green India’. These people take votes by ringing the temple bell and sell democracy by ringing the Parliament bell,” Mr. Patwari said.

During the course of Yatra, Mr. Gandhi along with Mr. Yadav visited the Khanquah Rahmani organisation in Munger and held an hour-long meeting with Islamic scholars, including Hazrat Maulana Ahmad Wali Faisal Rahmani, Ameer-e-Shariat and Sajjadah Nasheen of Khanquah Rahmani.

Meanwhile, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad flagged off the ‘Mission 2025 Tejashwi Sandesh Rath’ from his 10, Circular Road residence in Patna.