30,000 Jobs in Just 9 Months: Why a Modi Minister Thanked Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi:
Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi recently praised the Karnataka government for facilitating the rapid expansion of Foxconn’s manufacturing operations, highlighting the recruitment of nearly 30,000 employees in just eight to nine months. Calling it the fastest factory expansion ever witnessed in India, Gandhi underlined the transformative impact of such large-scale job creation—particularly for women.

Sharing a news report on social media, Rahul Gandhi said that this achievement goes beyond numbers. “It represents real change in people’s lives through dignified employment,” he wrote. Notably, around 80 percent of the newly hired workforce comprises women, most of them aged between 19 and 24. For many, this marks their very first job. Gandhi credited Karnataka for creating an environment where manufacturing can grow at scale and speed, adding, “This is the India we want—dignified jobs and opportunities for all.”

However, Gandhi’s post drew an unexpected response from Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw. In a pointed yet witty reaction on X (formerly Twitter), Vaishnaw thanked Gandhi for acknowledging what he described as the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

“Thanks, Rahul Gandhi, for recognizing the success of PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ programme,” Vaishnaw wrote. “As you have noted, under the Prime Minister’s vision, India is steadily transforming into a producer economy.”

The development centers around Foxconn, the Taiwan-based global manufacturing giant and a key contract manufacturer for Apple devices, including the upcoming iPhone 17. Foxconn is expected to play a crucial role in Apple’s strategy to shift a significant portion of its production from China to India.

Once fully operational, Foxconn’s facility near Devanahalli, close to Bengaluru, is projected to manufacture up to 20 million iPhones annually. Over the past year alone, Apple assembled iPhones worth nearly $22 billion in India, with the country now contributing around 20 percent of Apple’s total global iPhone production.

The exchange between Rahul Gandhi and Ashwini Vaishnaw underscores the broader political debate over credit for India’s manufacturing push—but it also highlights a rare moment of consensus on one point: large-scale manufacturing and job creation are becoming a defining feature of India’s economic trajectory.