7.28 cr got self-employed: Shah's answer to 'jobless growth' critics

July 12, 2017 21:56

"Economic pundits" may be criticising the Modi government for a "jobless growth", but India cannot tackle unemployment only with jobs, BJP president Amit Shah has said, noting that 7.28 crore people have become

self-employed under the Centre's Mudra loan scheme in three years.

"Economic pundits talk about a jobless growth and try to tear out the few hair that I have on my head by asking where the jobs are?" Shah said, tongue firmly in cheek.

He was speaking at the launch of a coffee table book, 'The Making of a Legend', on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today. The function was attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and several Union ministers and BJP leaders.

A country with a population of 125 crore cannot deal with the problem of unemployment by only creating jobs and the Modi government has provided self-employment to 7.28 crore youths, he said.

Highlighting Modi's schemes aimed at the poor strata of society, a segment he has been assiduously cultivating, Shah said that the government's biggest success was that it had provided opportunities to "the last man in the queue" to lift himself out of poverty.

The government ensured that every household had a bank account and had built over 4.38 crore toilets to give dignity to poor women who were otherwise forced to defecate in open, he said.

Taking a swipe at previous governments, Shah said many prime ministers who spoke about development and the poor had come and gone but it was left to Modi to build toilets, open bank accounts and provide the poor other basic facilities.

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