Mumbai Shiv Sena leader and spokesperson Sanjay Raut questioned prime minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the critical issues in the country, including unemployment, the Kashmir conflict and protests in Andhra Pradesh over renaming a district after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
In his weekly column ‘RokhThok’ in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Raut said that Modi, “who gives sermons to the world,” was silent on these issues.
In the column published on Sunday, Raut wrote about the violence in Andhra Pradesh’s Konaseema district over naming it after Dr Ambedkar. The Sena MP also wrote that the issue of renaming cities came under the jurisdiction of the Centre. Further, he brought up the renaming of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar.
“The demand to rename Aurangabad is an old one. The Centre is not taking a decision on it. Or do they want to make political gains after inciting riots in Sambhajinagar?” he asked.
Referring to the Konaseema district, he added that the nation was built on the contribution of Dr Ambedkar and added that it was surprising to see opposition to renaming a district after him. “It is even more surprising that prime minister Modi, who gives guidance to the world, maintains silence on such occasions,” he wrote.
Raut quoted former World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu in his column and said that for the country, the rising unemployment was a big challenge and it cannot be called ‘development’. Last week, Basu said that though the fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong, the rise in divisiveness and polarisation in the country was damaging the foundations of the nation’s growth. He added that India’s big challenge was unemployment and joblessness as youth unemployment in India is over 24%, which is among the highest in the world.
“Modi is leading the nation with the maximum number of unemployed people and, surprisingly, he attends events on the world stage. Leaders from prominent countries got together in Japan for the Quad meet. Pictures of him leading the world leaders were published, but what about being the leader of the most unemployed people in the world?” Raut asked.
“Among the crowd of world leaders, our prime minister Modi is at the forefront, and we are proud of it, but the number of unemployed people in the country is increasing. Punjab and Kashmir are in unease, and the politics is taking the country in a different direction,” Raut further added.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson said that as a policy, they do not respond to criticisms made in ‘Saamana’.