Rahul Gandhi’s ‘epidemic’ attack at BJP over viral job interview video from Gujarat

Congress criticised BJP-ruled states on Thursday following a viral video showing job aspirants in a chaotic queue, resulting in a railing collapse at the interview venue, labelling it an “unemployment disease.” According to a PTI report, the incident unfolded when nearly 800 people arrived for walk-in interviews held by a company offering 40 vacancies in Ankleshwar in Gujarat’s Bharuch district.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi shared the video on microblogging platform X, expressing in Hindi. “The ‘disease of unemployment’ has taken the form of an epidemic in India, and BJP-ruled states have become the ‘epicentre’ of this disease. The ‘future of India’ jostling in queues for a common job is the reality of Narendra Modi’s ‘Amritkal’,” a rough translation of Gandhi’s tweet said.

What does the video show?

Videos of a massive queue, characterised by pushing and shoving as job seekers tried to secure a spot on a ramp leading to the entrance of a hotel where the interview was being held, went viral on social media.

The ramp’s railing eventually collapsed, causing several aspirants to fall off, although no injuries were reported.

In the 22-second video that went viral, aspirants were seen falling on each other as they pushed and tried to enter the room ahead of them for the walk-in interview. From the front side of the door, it was apparent that those at the back could not make it into the room, leading to a pile-up and the collapse of the railing.

What did other Cong leaders say about the video?

Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge also hit out at the BJP, sharing the same viral video, saying that the video shows the “cheating model” that the BJP played in Gujarat. He further invoked paper leaks and the Agniveer scheme in his criticism of the BJP-led Centre.

“This video is proof of the ‘cheating model’ that BJP has played on the people of Gujarat for the last 22 years. This video is also solid proof of the way the Modi government has snatched jobs from the youth and ruined their future for the last 10 years,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

“The BJP’s promise of providing two crore jobs annually — Paper leak, recruitment corruption, education mafia, keeping government jobs vacant for years, knowingly not filling SC/ST/OBC/EWS posts, recruitment on contract by bringing schemes like Agniveer, and leaving crores of youth to wander from door to door’ — has fallen prey to all these!” Kharge added.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also attacked the BJP over the video. In a post in Hindi on X, Ramesh said, “This video is enough to expose the so-called Modi model, which is being promoted across the country. This crowd of youth for jobs at a private hotel is clear proof that only the rich have benefited in Gujarat. The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 30 years, yet unemployment in the state is at a terrible level.”