India’s unemployment rate entered double digits this May according to CMIE data, touching 14.7 per cent in the week ended May 23. An irreverent Redditor who published a blank book about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's employment policies as satire, tells Mid-Day.com it was ‘a product of an empty mind of an unemployed person’
The cover of 'Masterstroke', which was self-published by a user on Amazon under the pseudonym 'Berozgar Bhakt'
The author of a satire that went viral on Tuesday, when Amazon briefly published it, had lost his part-time job amid Covid cuts. He decided to make an empty book detailing the PM's success with tackling unemployment 'for a laugh'.
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Titled 'Masterstroke' and published under the pseudonym 'Berozgar Bhakt' (Unemployed Devotee), the e-book made waves for several hours after it appeared on the Amazon website. Its cover, bearing a blurred image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, promised to reveal "420 secrets that helped PM in India's employment growth". Inside were 56 pages, all left intentionally blank. It was available as a Kindle download priced at Rs 56, and free of cost for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. This was the work of an irreverent Redditor, who says he is a victim of the growing wave of unemployment in the country.
Over an online chat, the prankster, who requested to be identified only as 'an engineer from Jharkhand', called this idea "a product of an empty mind of an unemployed person". Claiming to be between jobs currently, he said his intention was to test how Kindle Publishing works. "So, I thought if I am going to put in some effort then I better get some laughs out of it." The satirical concept took 15 minutes to create. "In the morning I saw it got greenlit, and I thought to share this hilarious goof up by Amazon with fellow Redditors." According to its website, Amazon allows users to publish books within minutes and have them appear on Amazon sites within two days. In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson said: "The book is no longer available on Amazon."
'Masterstroke's description read: "How a great leader helped a struggling nation to emerge glorious in the war against Covid-19 and walk down the path of prosperity. This book has all the things Indian Prime Minister Modi did to increase employment among the Indian citizens". Within hours of its release, at least 57 Amazon users had given the book top ratings. Rave reviews, dripping with sarcasm, crowded the page. One user, Milind Alvares, wrote: "A very thorough rundown of some of the not-so-known facts." Fellow customer Saad M's review noted, "Masterful, fluently explains the steps taken by our honourable PM and how hard he worked to increase employment opportunities for his fellow countrymen." The book's cover initially appeared with a clear photo but the author later blurred it for copyright reasons. The listing disappeared from Amazon's website by Tuesday evening, but the book remained available on another publishing platform, Smashwords.
Even before the pandemic in 2019, a Business Standard investigation highlighted that the Modi government had withheld a National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report which showed the unemployment rate was at a 45-year-high. India's unemployment rate moved into double digits this May, touching 14.7 per cent in the week ended May 23, as per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data. The author of 'Masterstroke' is among those affected. "I lost my part time job due to Covid. I am preparing for government jobs but they don't have enough vacancies," he says. "Recently, while Covid cases were rising the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) conducted non-technical popular categories (NTPC) exams and assigned centres to another state. The only train was cancelled, the buses were packed, and still candidates had to choose an exam over their life. Because they know there's a chance to get cured from Covid-19 but there is no chance that the government will roll out new vacancies next year," he says.
'Masterstroke' made multiple tongue-in-cheek references. Among them, the number 56 which was an allusion to a label by which Modi's followers call him ('the man with the 56-inch chest'), and the pseudonym "Bhakt" was based on a term critics often use to describe unquestioning voters of the incumbent central government. The Redditor is not active on Twitter -- where the book's listing was most widely shared -- and was not expecting it to go viral. So is he interested in publishing more books? "I do want to publish my book in the near future. But it will probably not be about politicians," he says, adding, "Depends on how long I will be unemployed!"
Also read: One year since Covid-19 lockdown: India still recovering from unemployment blow
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