Kolkata: The BJP unit in West Bengal, which had decided that its party workers would visit door-to-door and meet at 75 lakh unemployed youths in West Bengal and hand them over a job assurance card, has now put the campaign on hold after sensing that people may mistake the ‘assurance card’ for a job appointment letter if BJP comes to power in the state after elections.
The campaign was launched by the State BJP on December 13 as a part of its outreach drive where itannounced to approach the jobless youths.
However, the strategists of the BJP campaign felt that the outreach drive could send a wrong message to the masses as the youths would assume the card to be a sure shot gateway to getting employment in 2021 if BJP forms the government in Bengal.
Speaking to the News18.com, State BJP vice president Pratab Banerjee, said, “The Job campaign was put on hold because we want to make some changes in the outreach drive. Actually, youths may start thinking that the card is an appointment letter. Therefore, we will make some changes before starting the door-to-door campaign in all constituencies.”
The BJP, in fact, wanted to do a survey across the state to get figures on the total number of unemployment people in order to chalk out a plan to help the youth.
“The whole idea behind the survey is to formulate a policy for employment generation if we form the next government in West Bengal. We have to make the changes in the scheme because with the word ‘job’ the youngsters might start thinking it is an appointment letter,” said a senior BJP leader in-charge of the campaign.
The BJP has maintained that Bengal lacks behind many states in terms of providing jobs to the youths. During the lockdown, West Bengal Department of Information Technology & Electronics emerged as the saviour of thousands of information technology (IT) professionals, through its ‘Karmo Bhumi’ scheme for those who lost their jobs or returned home due to family issues amid COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Karmo Bhumi’ is the brainchild of Mamata Banerjee and it is an initiative to collaborate between Job Seekers and Employers in the IT/ITeS sector in the state.
It was launched on June 8, 2020 and so far more than 37,000 job seekers have registered for it. Already, more than 3,000 IT professionals have got jobs under this special scheme.
“The BJP has stooped so low to win Bengal assembly polls that it is now trying to lure youths through fraud job assurance schemes. If they are giving job cards, naturally the youth will think that it is an appointment letter for them. But the BJP has realised that such schemes will not work here in Bengal because people here are alert and they cannot be fooled by such fictitious schemes. They are exposed and therefore they have put the scheme on hold,” said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Trinamool Congress MP.
He added, “Forget about giving jobs, due to poor governance of the Centre, nearly 12 crore people lost their jobs till April 2020. The BJP is desperate to win the Bengal polls but I would like to say that it will be a distant dream for them.”
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