External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in an apparent jibe at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, has said life was not “khata-khat”(easy job), and it needed hard work and diligence.

Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly used the “Khata-khat”phrase  during the Lok Sabha elections while promising swift transfer of money into the accounts of women if Congress was voted to power.

Jaishankar made the remark while he was speaking on the infrastructural development undertaken by the Narendra Modi-led government at an event in Geneva.

Addressing the Indian community, Jaishankar said, “Until you build infrastructure and human resources, have those policies in place, it is hard work. Life is not ‘khata-khat’, life is hard work and diligence.”

“Anybody who’s held a job and laboured at it, knows it. So that’s my message to you, that we have to work hard at it,” he further said.

Gandhi’s ‘khata khat’ punch line had become a social media trend and was used even by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attack the Congress over alleged lack of development during the UPA regime.

Jaishankar said a country cannot be a major power without developing its manufacturing capabilities.  “And there are...people who say that we are incapable of it, we should not even attempt it. Can you actually be a major power in the world without manufacturing? Because a major power needs technology. Nobody can develop technology without developing manufacturing,” he said.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi, during an interaction with students at the University of Texas, said China’s dominance in global manufacturing had shielded it from an unemployment crisis, which plagues India and most Western countries.

“The West has an employment problem, as does India. But many countries, like China and Vietnam, don’t face such a challenge because they are production hubs,” Rahul Gandhi said.