NEW DELHI: In his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha , BJP president Amit Shah said it was better to sell 'pakodas' than to be unemployed.

"I think it is better to be a labourer or sell 'pakodas' than to be unemployed. There is no shame in selling 'pakodas'," he said, standing a few feet away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was also present in the House.

Shah was responding to the Congress's recent jibes at PM Modi, after the latter, in a TV interview, said that "if a person sells 'pakodas' and takes home Rs 200 every evening, will it be considered employment or not?"

The Congress slammed the government's "wild" claims of job creation, going so far as to say that if selling 'pakodas' was a job, then begging should also be recognised as employment.

Former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram tore into the Centre, saying that "real job creation" was "not happening yet."

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Shah attacked the Congress over unemployment, wondering that since the issue had persisted after "55 years of your rule, who's fault is it?"

"This problem didn't suddenly emerge," he charged.

He further said that the previous UPA governments suffered from policy paralysis.

The BJP chief counted the Modi-led government's Jan Dhan Yojana as one of its major successes. He said that before the BJP came to power, most families did not have "even one bank account."

In his speech, Shah defended the Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) and assured that once the initial hiccups were over, it would benefit the country.

However, he took exception to the Congress referring to the GST as ' Gabbar Singh Tax '.

"Gabbar Singh was a Hindi film dacoit. How can you call a legal tax dacoity," he questioned.

He credited the Centre with handling the "crucial" Kashmir issue "very well."

On the issue of surgical strikes, Shah said: "Surgical strike was a historic moment. The world started seeing India from a different view. They realised that after America and Israel, India is the only country which can protect its soldiers and Army."

Shah also pitched for simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha elections, besides touching upon a host of measures taken by the government -- ranging from power supply, toilets, gas, employment and health facilities to the people.

The BJP leader, who was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in August 2017, urged the opposition to rise above politics to solve pressing issues facing the country.

(With inputs from agencies)



In Video: Amit Shah hits out at the 'pakoda' jibe of Congress