The Congress might have ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion during a TV interview earlier this year that selling pakodas was a form of employment, but his statement has changed the life of a self-confessed hard-core Congressman in Gujarat.

Narayanbhai Rajput is an NSUI member, works for the Congress party and holds a post-graduate degree in Hindi Literature. He is a proud owner of a pakoda stall chain - Shriram Dalwada Centre - that he started in Vadodara taking cue from PM Modi's interview. Today, it has 35 franchisees in the city.

Narayanbhai says that the idea hit him after PM Modi's interview, where he said that earning Rs 200 per day by selling pakodas was be better than staying unemployed. Narayanbhai launched his own surgical strike on unemployment.

"Upon Prime Minister's advice that selling pakoda is also an employment, I thought of giving it a try. I started with one pakoda stall with only 10 kg of material. Now, I sell pakodas of around 500 to 600 kg of material," he said.

Narayanbhai Rajput

However, Narayanbhai Rajput asserts, "I am a die-hard Congressman and will remain the same in my next birth too".

Explaining the reason for taking PM Modi's advice "so seriously", he said that "he is prime minister of the country that include me and Rahul Gandhi (the Congress president) as well".

Narayanbhai Rajput making pakodas

He has an interesting argument for naming his pakoda stall after Lord Ram. He said, "If stones can swim in water (giving reference to epic Ramayana) and leaders like Amit Shah and Narendra Modi can rule the country in the name of Lord Ram then his pakoda stall would do well in the name of Lord Ram."

Narayanbha was an instant hit in the business of pakoda selling in Vadodara and in two months' time he was famous throughout the city. He currently sells 100 grams of daal pakodas for Rs 10.

His stalls sell more than 300 kg of daal vada within four hours of opening - between 7 am and 11 am. He sells almost the same quantity in the evening too.