Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ‘demeaned’ and ‘degraded’ the millions of poor people in the country by stating that one can always find an alternative employment by selling Pakoras.

Speaking during his interview to a popular television news channel, the Prime Minister reportedly said that nobody can complain of unemployment.  “Even selling Pakoras can be considered as an alternative means of employment; this might fetch at least Rs.200 per day,” Modi is said to have remarked during the interview.

Taking Modi on, the former Union Finance Minister wrote thus in his Twitter posting yesterday:  “A young man who sells pakoras is honourably self-employed, but poor and aspirational; ask him and he will tell you that he aspires for a regular and secure job. I empathize with him!”

“BJP should not distort and deflect the debate on jobs. BJP should tell us how many regular jobs were created in the last three years,” P. Chimdambaram said, continuing his tirade against the Modi-led BJP Govt. at the Centre for its various initiatives.

“There is a distinction between employment and self-employment; employment ought to be created by the Govt. so that people could get it with some effort.  We earnestly want to know the number of employment opportunities created by the three-and-a-half year long regime of the BJP at the Centre,” PC concluded.