After much criticism and flak, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi finally made his first ever address as the Maharashtra elections are approaching and are slated to happen on October 21 in the state.

Speaking at a rally at Ausa in Latur district in the Marathwada region, Rahul attacked the Modi government over rising unemployment. The leader said that the Narendra Modi-led BJP government had been making false promises, and the unemployment rate in the country stood at the highest in the past 40 years.

In an apparent reference to ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission, Gandhi said that when youth demand jobs, the government tells them to watch the Moon. “When the youth ask for jobs, the government tells them to watch the Moon. The government speaks about (abrogation of) Article 370 and Moon, but is silent on problems plaguing the country,” he said.

“By sending a satellite to the moon, you cannot feed the poor people of this country. Such missions will not finish hunger of our youths,” Rahul added.

He also targeted the government over farmer issue. “The work of media, Modi and Shah is to distract people’s attention from core issues. The media is silent on farmers’ distress, lack of jobs. The media is mum on loan waiver to rich as it is owned by them,” Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi further said that why PM Modi and the media failed to ask Chinese President Xi Jinping hard questions over the Doklam issue during the recent informal summit in Tamil Nadu.

He alleged that the media’s function was increasingly turning out to be to merely showcase the Prime Minister while diverting attention from pressing issues afflicting the common people.

He alleged that wealthy industrialists like the Ambanis and the Adanis who controlled the media were being exempted from taxes of more than ₹5 lakh crore by the Modi government.