After the social media and political buzz created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Wednesday of India’s anti-satellite (ASAT) missile capabilities, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday sought to steer the discourse back to basic issues by promising to employ “lakhs of youth” through a new scheme to help the environment.

“India needs to 1. Repair and Restore our water bodies. 2. Regenerate & Afforest wasteland & degraded land. We will employ lakhs of rural youth in our gram sabhas to improve the environment,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted.

The ASAT announcement, termed Mission Shakti, not only allowed the BJP to steer the political narrative towards a Pakistan-centric debate on national security but also prompted Mr. Modi to declare at a public rally in Odisha on Friday that he could be a chowkidaar [watchman] in space too.

‘Focus on real issues’

“It is important that the Prime Minister comes back to the real issues. We are absolutely clear that the Congress party will not allow the Prime Minister to hijack the narrative by non-issues and by playing with people’s emotions,” said Congress’ Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma

‘Defence secret out’

In a series of tweets, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram questioned the decision to reveal India’s missile capabilities, terming it a ‘betrayal of defence secret by a foolish government’.

Questioning the government’s record on jobs, Mr. Chidambaram said: “Unemployment rate in India is at 7.1%. It is the highest in 45 years. Why? Will Mr Modi answer? ” Mr Chidambaram tweeted.