Bengaluru, Feb 13 (IANS): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah while targeting the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of unemployment, on Tuesday sympathized with the accused in the December 13, 2023 Parliament security breach case.

Taking to social media, Siddaramaiah stated, “The youth of the nation are facing the pressure of unemployment. Last year, the youths who breached Parliament security and burst smoke canisters in the House, were dejected by unemployment, right?”

The incident in Lok Sabha had made international news and become a flash point between the Congress and the BJP.

Siddaramaiah sympathizing with the accused youths, Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma, is likely to stir a controversy.

He further stated that in 2014, the promise of generation of crores of jobs was made and after 10 years, the generation of jobs in lakhs is projected as an achievement.

“It is looking like a joke. Mr. Prime Minister, what is the number of jobs that you have created?” the CM asked.

“Your own Cabinet colleague in July 2022 while answering a question in the Lok Sabha stated, between 2014-15 and 2021-22 only 7 lakh new jobs were created. Is this the final truth?” Siddaramaiah questioned.

“As per the World Bank report in 2022, the unemployment rate in Pakistan was 11.3 per cent, in Bangladesh it was 12.9 per cent. In Bhutan it was 14.4 per cent and in China it was 13.2 per cent. In this period the unemployment rate in India was 23.22 per cent.

“According to a recent report by the International Labour Organisation, our country is lower in ranking than neighbouring Myanmar, Bangladesh and Mauritius,” he stated.