Santosh Gangwar's 'north Indians lack qualification' comment triggers row; Oppn slams Union Minister

"I want to say that there is no dearth of job opportunities in the country. Those who come for recruitment in north India often complain that they are unable to find the quality in candidates required for the post they are hiring for," said Gangwar, MoS (Independent Charge), Ministry of Labour and Employment while addressing a press conference in Bareilly Saturday.

"I am looking after the same ministry and I monitor the situation on a daily basis. There is no dearth of employment in the country. We have employment exchanges for a purpose and we have also developed a separate system. Our ministry monitors the situation," Gangwar added.

"Mantriji, your government is in power since last more than 5 years. Jobs were not produced. Even the jobs that existed are vanishing due to the economic slowdown brought by the government. Youth are looking towards the government with the hope that it will do some good. You want to escape by insulting north Indians. This will not work," tweeted Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi.

मंत्रीजी, 5 साल से ज्यादा आपकी सरकार है। नौकरियाँ पैदा नहीं हुईं। जो नौकरियाँ थीं वो सरकार द्वारा लाई आर्थिक मंदी के चलते छिन रही हैं। नौजवान रास्ता देख रहे हैं कि सरकार कुछ अच्छा करे।

आप उत्तर भारतीयों का अपमान करके बच निकलना चाहते हैं। ये नहीं चलेगा।https://t.co/2f9ZhGmVoT

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) September 15, 2019

After the hilarious statements by the Central ministers regarding the period of economic slowdown and other problems, rather than solving the problem of unemployment in the nation, particularly in the northern region, it is shameful that some of them have stated that there is a lack of qualification for which an apology should be issued to the nation," Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati tweeted in Hindi.

देश में छाई आर्थिक मंदी आदि की गंभीर समस्या के सम्बंध में केन्द्रीय मंत्रियों के अलग-अलग हास्यास्पद बयानों के बाद अब देश व खासकर उत्तर भारतीयों की बेरोजगारी दूर करने के बजाए यह कहना कि रोजगार की कमी नहीं बल्कि योग्यता की कमी है, अति-शर्मनाक है जिसके लिए देश से माफी मांगनी चाहिए।

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 15, 2019

BJP's minister has broken the morale of the youth by saying that there is a dearth of qualified youth. Even if we accept this false statement, is it not the responsibility of the government to make the youth qualified," President of Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav said.

"Actually, there is no lack of qualified youth, there is a lack of qualified governments in the state and the centre", he added.

भाजपा के मंत्री जी ने ये कहकर युवाओं का मनोबल तोड़ा है कि देश में रोज़गार की नहीं बल्कि क़ाबिल युवाओं की कमी है. अगर एक क्षण को ये झूठी बात मान भी लें तो क्या युवाओं को क़ाबिल बनाने का दायित्व सरकार का नहीं है.

दरअसल कमी क़ाबिल युवाओं की नहीं; देश-प्रदेश में क़ाबिल सरकार की है. pic.twitter.com/fdasbAIA1m

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 15, 2019