New Delhi, Apr 4 (IANS): Labelling Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's speech here "lacklustre and without direction", the BJP said Thursday that it was a tacit admission that the UPA government had not empowered people in the last nine years.

People were reeling under inflation, were fed up with corruption and wanted faster growth with jobs, BJP spokesperon Prakash Javadekar told NDTV.

He said Gandhi, in his address at the CII conference, did not talk of "relevant questions" and revealed his desire to empower people.

"It is a tacit admission that the UPA has not empowered people in the last nine years," Javadekar said.

He said people were fed up with the United Progressive Alliance government and wanted change.

"It (the speech) was lacklustre, uninspiring and without direction," he said.

Party leader Yashwant Sinha said the Congress leader did not address the present problems of Indian economy and only shared a set of platitudes.

"There were contradictions in his speech... He had nothing specific to offer in terms of present problems of Indian economy... only a set of platitudes he shared," Sinha said.

Asked about comparison between Gandhi and Narendra Modi, Sinha said it would be "very unfair" to make a comparison. "There is no comparison. I don't want to be harsh on the young man."