Another day, another myth busted. This time, it’s the Opposition’s favourite punching bag: “berozgari”, or unemployment. For years now, the Congress and its allies have harped on about joblessness under the Modi government, but facts — those pesky little things — have once again exposed their bluff. The latest blow to this manufactured narrative comes from none other than the State Bank of India (SBI). According to its latest report, over 50 crore self-employment opportunities have been generated through the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) since its inception in 2015. Yes, you read that right — 50 crore. That’s not a statistic you can spin, no matter how desperate the soundbites. Launched to empower micro and small entrepreneurs, particularly those from economically weaker backgrounds, PMMY offers collateral-free loans to give first-time business owners a fighting chance. So far, it has extended over ₹32.61 lakh crore in loans. That’s more than just financial inclusion — that’s a silent revolution of dignity, economic independence, and ambition unfolding across Bharat. But wait, there’s more. If PMMY alone has such massive numbers to show, imagine the employment impact of other government initiatives — like the game-changing infrastructure projects led by Nitin Gadkari’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. By Gadkari’s own (conservative) estimates, over 50 lakh jobs were created in just the first three years. Multiply that over eight years, and we’re easily looking at another 1.2 crore-plus jobs — and that’s just from roads and highways!
So, one must ask: where exactly is this unemployment crisis the Congress keeps wailing about? Is it perhaps unemployment within political parties — now deprived of the middlemen culture they thrived on for decades? Let’s not forget that it was Rajiv Gandhi himself who admitted that only 15 paise of every rupee released by the government reached the poor. That was the system the Congress built. Modi didn’t just expose that rot — he uprooted it. Middlemen are out. Leakages are plugged. Subsidies now reach the intended beneficiary directly. The result? Fewer Congress loyalists with “jobs” as brokers. Which explains the desperation. Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, and the rest of the chronically unemployed Opposition keep flogging dead horses like “youth unrest” and “job crisis” — not because these problems are real, but because they’ve lost their grip on the old ecosystem. The people, meanwhile, aren’t listening. They’re attending open-door meetings with the Prime Minister, proudly narrating how their small shops, tailoring units, and food trucks took off thanks to PMMY and other welfare schemes. It’s ironic. The only place where unemployment seems to be rising… is in the Congress war room. Perhaps Rahul Gandhi should consider applying for a Mudra loan and start a fact-checking agency — because God knows, they desperately need one.