Modi govt asking youths to see moon when they seek jobs: Rahul

Hitting the hustings for the first time since the Congress' Lok Sabha debacle earlier this year, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of "deflecting" the core issues and asking youths to "watch the moon" when they are demanding jobs.

Gandhi also accused the media of distracting people's attention from the "real issues" like the "downfall of the economy". He claimed that "divisive politics" was one of the reasons behind the closure of scores of factories in the country.

With the BJP seeking to weave the narrative for the October 21 Maharashtra elections around the withdrawal of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and nationalism, Gandhi targetted Modi and Shah over the state of the economy and unemployment.

He said the PM and Shah are maintaining "convenient silence" on the real issues plaguing the country.

"By sending a satellite to the moon, you cannot feed the poor people of this country. Such missions will not finish hunger of our youths," Gandhi said in an apparent reference to Mission 'Chandrayaan 2' though he commendable the ISRO for the achievement.

BJP leaders have been raising the ambitious moon mission as one of the achievements of the Modi government during campaigning. The mission, which envisaged soft-landing of a lander on lunar surface, had failed to achieve its intended objective.

"The real focus of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is to divert the attention of the people towards Corbett Park, the moon, China, Pakistan, Japan and Korea among others. They are conveniently silent on the issues that are plaguing the country," said Gandhi while addressing a rally for Congress candidate from Ausa assembly segment in Latur district.

Corbett Park was an apparent reference to British adventurer Bear Grylls's show 'Man vs Wild' in Hindi which featured the prime minister walking through the wild in the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.

In Ausa, sitting Congress MLA Basavaraj Patil is in the fray for the October 21 assembly election against Abhimanyu Pawar, former personal assistant of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Gandhi, who had led the Congress campaign against the BJP and the PM on the theme of "Rafale irregularities" in the Lok Sabha polls, also sought to paint the grim picture of the economy and job scenario.

"Unemployment has reached its highest mark in the last 40 years. More than 2000 factories in the country have been closed down. The automobile sector is shattered," said Gandhi, who is a star campaigner for the Congress in the crucial elections.

Gandhi said he has come to know about "woes" of the garment and diamond industries in Gujarat, the home state of the prime minister.

"In my recent visit to Gujarat, I realised about the woes of the garment and diamond industries, but the media is not talking a single word about it. Nobody will raise question on Narendra Modi. You must look closely what exactly is happening," Gandhi said.

He added, "If you ask about the current problems facing the people in any corner of the country, the common answer will be 'devastated farmers and unemployment'...If you ask farmers about their situation, their answer is: Modiji has destroyed us."