Sitaram Yechury questions Centre's job announcement, says lakhs of jobs lying vacant for 8 years

Questioning the Centre's announcement of providing 10 lakh jobs in the next 18 months, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday asked why the government did not fill the "lakhs of government jobs lying vacant" during the last eight years.

New Delhi: Raising questions over the Centre's announcement of providing 10 lakh jobs in the next 18 months, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday asked why the government did not fill the "lakhs of government jobs lying vacant" during the last eight years.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister's Office announced that the recruitment of 10 lakh people will be done by the Government in a mission mode in the next 1.5 years. Speaking to media, Yechury said, "Have you not heard such rhetoric before? How many times have you heard in the last 8-10 years such a thing? Every year 2 crore jobs had been announced by the Modi government."

Calling the move "gross injustice to the youth", the CPI(M) leader said that the government should fill the vacant seats first before announcing new jobs in the future.

"Our youth are facing unemployment. People are throwing another jumla of employment. We understand that it is a gross injustice to the youth of our country. If you have some desire to work for the youth, then Prime Minister, the government jobs which are still vacant and are not being recruited, should be filled in lakhs," he said.

Asked if his party would participate in the meeting of the Opposition leaders convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on June 15 in a bid to unite the opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and prepare a joint strategy for the presidential polls, Yechury confirmed that CPI(M) will take part in the meeting.

"The way Mamta Banarjee convened the meeting of Opposition leaders without the consultation with political leaders is wrong, but despite that Left parties will take part in tomorrow's meeting," he said.

Meanwhile, Yechury on Tuesday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for convening Opposition leaders meeting on Wednesday and said that meetings of Opposition parties have always followed a procedure of prior mutual consultations to enable the maximum participation of those wishing to join.

In a letter to Mamata Banerjee, the CPI(M) General Secretary said, "I received your letter dated June 11, 2022 informing me of a meeting of opposition parties on June 15, 2022 at 3 pm at the Constitution Club in New Delhi to discuss the forthcoming election to elect the President of India."

"Such meetings of opposition parties have always followed a procedure of prior mutual consultations to enable the maximum participation of those wishing to join. However, in this instance, we received a unilateral communication informing the date, time, venue and agenda," said Yechury.

Banerjee had written a letter to 22 opposition leaders, including Left parties, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah among others, urging them to attend the June 15 meeting in New Delhi. (ANI)