The Congress on Friday termed as a "lie" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks that the government's mudra scheme gave a boost to employment and alleged that he had conducted a "surgical strike" on jobs last year.
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh, at a press conference, cited data by the Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy to claim that in 2018, 1 crore jobs were destroyed in various sectors due to demonetisation and hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.
"It is the first time in history that under a Prime Minister jobs have not been created but destroyed, and history will remember him as a 'jobs destroyer PM'," he said.
In an interview to a TV channel, Prime Minister Modi said: "Imagine, 4 crore people, it's a total of 15 to 17 crore - exact number will be here or there - who have taken money from banks via the mudra scheme. 4 crore people have taken money for the first time. They must have started some employment, they must have employed somebody."
Ramesh said, "The Prime Minister says that there has been a revolution in creating jobs through Mudra. I haven't heard a bigger lie than this."
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