Selling pakodas not matter of shame, says Amit Shah

NEWDELHI: Someone who sells pakodas today, his progeny can become entrepreneurs tomorrow. Today a son of chaiwala is the PM of this nation.

AMIT SHAH, BJP chief

Working hard to earn a living is better than being unemployed, said BJP president Amit Shah on Monday, using his speech in Parliament to hit back at Opposition criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement about employment.

“Selling pakodas is not something to be ashamed of. Someone who sells pakodas today, his progeny can become entrepreneurs tomorrow. Today a son of chaiwala is the PM of this nation. You cannot compare the self-employed with beggars,” Shah said in his first speech in the Rajya Sabha.

Modi, in a recent interview to Zee News TV channel, had said, “If someone opens a ‘pakoda’ shop in front of your office, does that not count as employment? The person’s daily earning of ₹200 will never come into any books or accounts. The truth is massive people are being employed.”

Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday criticised Modi, saying the government didn’t know how to create jobs. “By that logic, even begging is a job. Let’s count poor or disabled persons who are forced to beg for a living as ‘employed’ people... The truth is India is witnessing a three-year spell of modest, but jobless growth and the government is clueless about how to create jobs,” said Chidambaram, a former finance minister.

Shah rejected the Congress’s criticism and said the party had failed to help India’s people in