Shimla, Aug 20 – The Himachal Vidhan Sabha today witnessed fireworks after Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur led a walkout of BJP MLAs, accusing Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of “peddling lies” on the issue of employment generation.
“On one hand, the Chief Minister claimed in Sarkaghat on Independence Day that his government gave 34980 jobs, while in the House today said the figure was 24,000, a difference of 11000 jobs.
Which one is the truth?” Thakur thundered before the media. “To make matters worse, he is even counting jobs given to youth in Saudi Arabia as state employment.
This is a mockery of jobless Himachali youth and a disgrace to the Vidhan Sabha,” he charged.
Thakur pointed out that the Congress had promised 5 lakh jobs in its manifesto – at least 1 lakh government jobs every year.
“Nearly two and a half years have passed. The Sukhu government has failed miserably.
Instead of creating jobs, it is counting vacancies that were in process during the BJP rule as its own,” he alleged.
This debate is important as there's more than 10 lakh educated youth, who are still unemployed, with no relief in sight as industries are not coming to the hill state.
Responding to the charges, CM Sukhu hit back saying, “What evidence does Thakur have that I lied?
The fact is, our government has facilitated more than 34,000 jobs in government as well as private sector. Even opportunities abroad, through Himachal Pradesh Electronics Corporation, are employment.
Private sector jobs are also jobs – many youth are earning from YouTube and digital platforms, and that too is livelihood.”
But the Chief Minister skirted questions on his party’s poll promise of one lakh government jobs every year, choosing instead to defend his figures.
His evasive replies left the government on the defensive as the Opposition sharpened its attack, alleging betrayal of the state’s youth.
The issue of jobs – or the lack of them – continues to haunt successive governments in Himachal, with unemployment crossing the 10 lakh mark, as both the public and private sectors fail to absorb the swelling numbers of educated youth.
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