Uttar Pradesh Assembly election: After manifesto, Congress to launch 'Speak UP' drive for youths on Sunday

In Congress' “Speak UP" campaign, the youths will share on Twitter and Facebook their ‘faith’ in the ‘Bharti Vidhan’ while also recounting their experiences of being cheated by the state governments.

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Lucknow: In the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Congress party will launch Sunday a ‘Speak UP’ campaign for youths to share their alleged experiences of having been cheated by the state's present and previous governments.

The state unit of the party will launch the novel poll campaign programme on the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, two days after the release of its ‘Bharti Vidhan’, a poll manifesto for youths, said Naseemuddin Siddiqui, the in-charge of the party's state unit wing of media and communication.

In the “Speak UP" campaign, the youths will share on Twitter and Facebook their ‘faith’ in the ‘Bharti Vidhan’ while also recounting their experiences of being cheated by the state governments, including the present one Yogi Adityanath, he said.

Dubbing "Bharti Vidhan" a "document of hopes and aspirations of seven crore youths of Uttar Pradesh", he said if voted to power, the Congress party will give government jobs to 20 lakh youths with 40 per cent of beneficiaries, totalling 8 lakh, being girls.

During the present government, the youths have been left preparing diligently for various competitive exams for jobs, only to find at the end that their question papers have been leaked.

"During the reign of this incompetent government, papers of 12 examinations were leaked. Somehow, even if the examinations were conducted, the candidates kept struggling for results and appointments," he said.

In the last five years, there have been many such occasions when batons were used on candidates seeking jobs, he said.

The chief minister claims the number of government jobs in Uttar Pradesh far exceeds the job-worthy youths, he said, adding the Congress, however, believes that every youth is worthy of a job but the Adityanath government failed to create opportunities for them.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had on Friday released the Congress' manifesto for youths ahead of the assembly elections, saying only the party can give a new vision for the youths of the state.

Addressing a press conference at the launch of the ‘Bharti Vidhan’ on Friday, Rahul Gandhi had said the vision document is ‘not hollow words’ but has been drafted after consulting youths whose views are reflected in it.

In the manifesto, the party has resolved to fill the “massive backlog” of employments in the public sector and promised 20 lakh jobs, including eight lakhs for women.

“The youth in Uttar Pradesh needs a new vision and only the Congress party can give it to the state,” the former Congress president had said.