Karnataka for Employment members termed the remark "arrogant."

A group of youngsters belonging a forum named Karnataka for Employment (KFE) set up a pakoda stall in front of the BJP’s office here on Saturday. They were dressed in blue and protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment in a recent TV interview that those selling pakodas should also be deemed employed.

When asked about his 2013 promise of creating one crore jobs every year, the Prime Minister had said that someone selling pakodas and earning ₹200 a day too is a job holder.

Members of KFE described this as an “arrogant” statement. Mutturaj, convenor of the movement, said Mr. Modi had made “a mockery of those eking out a living as street vendors”. Demanding employment generation, the organisation’s members said they plan to meet Mr. Modi during his visit to the city on February 4 and present to him their “youth manifesto”, in which one of the demands is employment generation.

The organisation has been holding a series of ‘No job, no vote’ campaigns in Karnataka in the run-up the State Assembly elections.