New Delhi: Picking up the thread from her Uttar Pradesh poll campaign, where she flagged the issue of unemployment among youth, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today urged defence minister Rajnath Singh to speed up recruitment in the armed forces. “Youth from all over the country have tried to draw your and the government’s attention towards some important points related to the recruitment results, delay in recruitment and recruitment rallies for the armed forces,” Priyanka Gandhi said in her letter to the defence minister.
Gandhi, who had brought out a separate job manifesto for the youth of UP and promised them lakhs of jobs if voted to power, further suggested holding recruitment rallies and relaxing of age limits to the defence minister to address the concerns of the aspirants. Besides UP, Congress had raised the concerns of the ex-servicemen in the Uttarakhand campaign as the hill state sends a large number of youths to the armed forces.
She had raised the issue of unemployment in Goa and Punjab as well in an attempt to generate a new kind of political discourse around bread and butter issues over the mixing of religion and politics. The rallies conducted by Priyanka Gandhi had generated a huge response from young voters but the party organisation was not able to convert the enthusiasm into votes. The results in the five-state polls were not encouraging for the opposition party, which is trying to figure out where it went wrong.
Also read: After the fall: Is it the end of the road for Congress, or the time to resurrect?
Going down to the specifics of the armed forces jobs, Gandhi, in the letter, highlighted the examination for the recruitment of soldiers in the Air Force that was held in November 2020 and the results were out the same month. She noted that despite the completion of all the tests and the provisional selection list out, the date of issuance of the enrolment list was getting extended repeatedly.
Priyanka Gandhi also mentioned the exam for recruitment of soldiers in the Air Force held in July 2021 for which results were to be out in August 2021 but have not been released to date. Noting that about 1.25 lakh positions were lying vacant in the armed forces, the Congress leader asked the defence minister to speed up the process as the delay was causing anxiety among the aspirants.
