Ministers prefix ‘chowkidar’ to their Twitter identities

THE MOVE CAME A DAY AFTER MODI LAUNCHED A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN, “MAIN BHI CHOWKIDAR”

NEWDELHI: The social media battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress took another turn on Sunday with senior leaders of the BJP — including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, members of his Cabinet, and party chief Amit Shah — adding the prefix “chowkidar” to their Twitter identities. The move came a day after Modi launched a social media campaign, “Main Bhi Chowkidar (I, too, am a watchman)”, apparently mocking Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s anti-corruption campaign targeting the PM by using the slogan “Chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief). Gandhi has often argued that his pitch, which started with his allegation that the government bought overpriced Rafale fighter jets — a charge the government denies, resonated with the people.

“Happy that #MainBhiChowkidar has ignited the Chowkidar within all of us. Great fervor! Ecstatic to see the passion and commitment to protect India from corrupt criminal and anti-social elements. Let us keep working together for a developed India,” Modi tweeted on Sunday evening, further amplifying the social media battle.

On Saturday, the Prime Minister, while launching the campaign, said in a series of tweets: “your Chowkidar is standing firm and serving the nation.”

But, I am not alone. Everyone who is fighting corruption, dirt, social evils is a Chowkidar. Everyone working hard for the progress of India is a Chowkidar.”

He also shared a short video titled ‘Take The Pledge’, urging people to join him on March 31 at 6pm for a video programme titled “Main Bhi Chowkidar”.

Among those who prefixed their handle were a slew of senior Union ministers, including Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. The prefix was also used by senior leaders of the party and BJP supporters across Twitter.

Reacting to the new campaign, former Union minister and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said: “Jumlas [rhetoric] cannot subvert from the inescapable reality that the Prime Minister has failed in the past five years. Obfuscation and deflection will not work.”

In the 2014 general election, the BJP demonstrated its ability to reach the people directly and effectively by using social media to campaign and shape sentiment in its favour.