A stampede-like situation occurred in Ankleshwar in Gujarat's Bharuch district when around 800 persons turned up for walk-in interviews held by a firm for 40 vacancies, an official said on Thursday. A video showed hundreds of job aspirants queuing up for the interview at a hotel on Tuesday.
The crowd was so large that the railings around the building collapsed as people pushed each other while moving towards the entrance of the hotel where the interview was being held.
Photos and videos circulating on social media showed a huge number of men with backpacks struggling to get a toehold on a ramp. The railing of the ramp finally collapsed, leading to several aspirants falling off, though no one was injured, news agency PTI reported.
Bharuch Superintendent of Police Mayur Chavda was quoted as saying, "As per our information, a company arranged walk-in interviews for nearly 40 vacancies in five different roles."
"The company booked a hall in a hotel in Ankleshwar, expecting some 150 candidates. However, 800 turned up, and company officials had to shut the door of the interview hall to control the crowd, which led to the situation shown in the video," the official said.
The incident triggered a war of words between the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP. While the Congress said the incident exposed the "Gujarat model" (of development that the ruling party talks about), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the Congress was trying to defame the state through the video.
Tagging the video in a post on X, the opposition Congress said, “Gujarat model of Narendra Modi. A huge crowd of unemployed people gathered for a hotel job in Bharuch, Gujarat. The situation became such that the railing of the hotel broke and the Gujarat model was exposed. Narendra Modi is imposing this model of unemployment on the entire country.”
Meanwhile, the Gujarat unit of the Congress alleged that Gujarat has the highest unemployment in the 30 years of the BJP government. It took a dig at the BJP for not fulfilling its promises. "It is an old habit of BJP to promise 2 crore jobs every year before elections and not fulfill the promise later," the party said.
The BJP hit back at the Congress in a post on X and said the "the notion of these individuals being unemployed is baseless".
"Efforts to defame Gujarat are being made through a viral video from Ankleshwar. The advertisement for the walk-in interview clearly states they require experienced candidates. This implies those attending the interview are already employed elsewhere...It's evident that spreading negativity about Gujarat is a tactic learned from the Congress!" the BJP Gujarat posted on X.
