Annual 'National Unemployment Day' protest held on PM Modi's birthday

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 75th birthday today, 17 September, the government displayed sand sculptures, planted saplings, conducted health camps and launched the BJP’s carefully branded 'Seva Pakhwada', a fortnight of service projects designed to bathe the prime minister’s image in benevolence.

On the Opposition side were black balloons, tea and pakora stalls, and the Indian Youth Congress’s observance of 'National Unemployment Day', a tradition it has cultivated since at least 2021 to hammer home the gap between Modi's promises made and delivered.

The protest on Raisina Road leaned heavily on symbolism. The pakora stalls, for instance, referenced Modi’s 2018 remark that street vendors selling pakoras should also be counted as employed, a line that has haunted the government’s economic narrative ever since.

Black balloons festooned the IYC office to underline gloom, and the speeches that followed were predictably sharp. IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib accused the prime minister of being both “vote chor” and “naukri chor”. The first jibe has its roots in Rahul Gandhi’s long-running line from the 2019 general election, when he accused Modi of “stealing” the people’s mandate and linked it to the Rafale fighter jet controversy.

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The jibe stuck, and has resurfaced with particular energy since Gandhi's 7 August press conference, in which he presented detailed evidence based on Election Commission of India data to demonstrate what he called "vote chori" or election fraud. Coupled with “naukri chor” it now paints Modi as a thief twice over — of democratic rights and young people’s livelihoods.

Chib’s central argument was familiar but potent. Modi had promised 2 crore jobs annually back in 2014, which by now should have produced about 22 crore positions. Instead, Chib claimed, there are 24 crore applications and record joblessness. He also accused the government of favouring industrialists and "being concerned only about the employment of Amit Shah's son Jay Shah".

The latest government data shows overall unemployment at 5.1 per cent in August, down from 5.6 per cent in June. Rural unemployment stood at 4.3 per cent and urban at 6.7 per cent. Yet the statistics are far harsher for the young, with nearly one in five urban youth unemployed, and for young women in particular, where nearly 26 per cent are without work.

Against this backdrop, the theatre of pakora stalls does not feel exaggerated — it mirrors the lived reality of many graduates who see years of study translate into little more than rejection letters.

What gave this year’s protest added bite was the reference to the controversy surrounding 1,050 acres of land in Bhagalpur, Bihar. The Congress have recently alleged that this vast stretch, originally earmarked for a government-backed power project, has been handed over to the Adani Group on a thirty-three-year lease at a token rent of just one rupee a year.

The land reportedly includes 10 lakh fruit and hardwood trees, and villagers in the area have complained of coercion and forced signatures during the acquisition process. The power plant planned on the site, they claim, will ultimately sell electricity to Bihar consumers at a tariff higher than comparable projects in other states, leading the Congress to describe the arrangement as “double loot”: first, the cheap handover of public land and resources, and second, higher power bills for the very people whose land was taken.

Meanwhile, Modi’s own day was choreographed to project the opposite image. In Madhya Pradesh, he inaugurated projects and addressed cheering crowds, while BJP units across the country organised service events.

With PTI inputs