Bengaluru, September 17: Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday on Thursday, Congress leader Siddaramaiah said the youth of India have decided to celebrate September 17 as 'National Unemployment day' as 14 crore people allegedly lost their jobs in the past six months.

Siddaramaiah took to Twitter to hit out at Modi alleging job losses in the country. "More than 2 crore salaried jobs and 12 crore overall jobs have been lost in the last 6 months. Unemployment rate reached 45 years high due to decisions of the Narendra Modi government," said Siddaramaiah. PM Narendra Modi 70th Birthday: Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar Extend Greetings to Prime Minister, Wish Him Good Health and Happiness.

Running a hashtag of National Unemployment Day, Siddaramaiah said, "To honour his achievement, disheartened unemployed youths have decided to celebrate this day as National Unemployment Day." He appealed to the Prime Minister on "This #NationalUnemploymentDay", to create adequate jobs to address the ongoing crisis.

This crisis will create huge demographic dividend problems wasting precious years of the youths of India, Siddaramaiah said. Reacting to Siddaramaiah's tweet, the state BJP asked the Leader of Opposition in the assembly to wake up from his 'sleep of convenience' and see that the world has been devastated by COVID-19.

In a tweet, the party said, "Wake up from your 'sleep of convenience' and look around. You will see that the World has been devastated by #COVID19 pandemic. Why are you holding PM@narendramodi responsible for the unemployment of your party youngster @RahulGandhi?"