The BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of insulting "poor Indians" after party leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying a 'pakoda' seller earning Rs 200 a day should also be considered employed.
"Even selling pakodas is a 'job', said PM. 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 former finance minister tweeted in response to the prime minister's comment which he made during a TV interview recently.
Chidamabram, in another tweet, accused the BJP of being “the master of distortion and deception, adding, “ Selling pakodas is honourable self-employment for the poor but that cannot be counted as a job.
“A young man who sells pakodas 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 empathise with him,” the former finance minister tweeted.
Responding to the tweets, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Prime Minister Modi respects poor people who work hard to earn their livelihood. Congress and P. Chidambaram makes fun of them." He further claimed that the Congress party never respected the poor, instead treated them merely as “voting bloc”. The BJP, he claimed, has been making sure that the poor are employed.
Echoing similar sentiments, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said, "What has Congress done for the country after Independence? Earn as much as you can for yourself and let the country beg, is the attitude that Congress works with."
(With ANI inputs)
