Modi Baba, Chaalis Chor: Congress’ Riposte To BJP’s #MainBhiChowkidar Campaign

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his entire cabinet and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership sought to deflate Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ attack against the PM by prefixing their names with the ‘Chowkidar’ title on Twitter, the Grand Old Party, on Tuesday, came up with a riposte – Modi Baba, Chaalis Chor.

The fresh attack by the Congress party comes at a time when PM Modi is looking to turn Gandhi’s ‘chowkidar’ jibe to his advantage by reaching out to BJP followers who had joined his #MainBhiChowkidar campaign on Twitter earlier this week.

The war of the Twitter hashtags had begun after Gandhi began attacking Modi over allegations that he “stole” the money of India’s tax-paying public to give Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence a Rs 30,000 crore dole by way helping him bag the offset partner status with Dassault Aviation for the Rafale fighter jet deal. Gandhi has been reiterating the ‘chowkidar chor hai’ attack against Modi at every political rally and public meeting for several months now.

Last week, Modi stunned political observers and his followers by prefixing ‘Chowkidar’ before his name on his Twitter profile and then following it up at poll rallies with deafening assertions of his earlier statement – that while holding the office of the Prime Minister he will act as the chowkidar (watchman) of the people. Soon after, nearly all members of Modi’s Union council of ministers, BJP chief ministers and party leaders from across the country too prefixed their names with the ‘chowkidar’ title on their Twitter profiles.

Congress media cell chief Randeep Singh Surjewala, while addressing the media at the Congress headquarters, on Tuesday, said that Modi and his party were rattled by the prospect of losing the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in wake of the public resentment against his government over alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal, rising unemployment, stagnating economy, agrarian distress and a host of other issues.

Countering the #MainBhiChowkidar campaign, Surjewala said, “Modi Baba aur chaalis chor” (Modi and his 40 thieves) had lost touch with the ground realities and that the public across the country was screaming “Hai Hai Modi Sarkar, Kabhi Paan, Pakode, Kabhi Chowkidar”.

"Jisne Neerav Modi, Lalit Modi ki bhagaya wo chowkidar chor hai. Jisne mutthi bhar punjipatiyon ko lakhon karodon rupaye ki chori karwayi wo chowkidar chor hai (The watchman who allowed Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi to flee is a thief. The watchman who allowed a handful of capitalists to loot lakhs and crores is a thief," he said.

Surjewala’s diatribe came hours after Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media that “on March 31, the Prime Minister will interact through video conference with people who have pledged their support to the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' movement, from 500 locations in the country.”

Surjewala claimed that the BJP felt the need to come up with the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' movement because “all its slogans given over the past five years had been proven false”. “From the promise of bringing Rs 80 lakh crore of black money stashed in foreign tax havens back to India, to depositing Rs 15 lakh in every India’s account, to Acche Din Ayenge, to Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas to New India… every single slogan they have given has been a jumla. This is why the BJP feels the need to brand and re-brand constantly,” the Congress leader added.