Modi, BJP leaders add ‘chowkidar’ to Twitter profiles
THE MOVE IS SEEN AS A COUNTER TO RAHUL GANDHI’S PITCH THAT MOCKS PM MODI FOR DESCRIBING HIMSELF AS COUNTRY’S WATCHMAN
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Sunday prefixed chowkidar to their name on Twitter as part of a campaign launched on Saturday that asked people to take the ‘main bhi chowkidar hoon’ pledge.
The move is seen as a counter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s pitch that mocks PM Modi for describing himself as t he c o unt r y ’ s watc hman. ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ (Watch- man is a thief) has been a running theme in Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against the BJP for months.
Gandhi has often argued that his pitch, which started with his allegation that the government bought o verpri c e d Rafal e fighter jets, resonated with people.
On Sunday morning, PM Modi’s personal Twitter handle was changed to ‘Chowkidar Narendra Modi’ and that of BJP chief Amit Shah’s was ‘Chowkidar Amit Shah’. Soon scores of BJP leaders made the change too, following up on the BJP’S “Main bhi Chowkidar” campaign launched on Saturday.
As part of this campaign, in a tweet put out on his @narendramodi handle on Saturday, PM Modi wrote, “Your Chowkidar is standing firm & 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. Today, every Indian is saying-#mainbhiChowkidar.”
BJP president Amit Shah f ollowed with “Chowkidar Amit Shah” and tweeted: “The one who made cleanliness a moral value... he is called Chowkidar #Mainbhichowkidar. Say with all your heart #ChowkidarPhirse (watchman again).”
Shah’s remarks came after senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, JP Nadda, Harsh Vardhan and Dharmendra Pradhan followed suit, changing their names similarly on Twitter accounts.
“As Cho wki d a r s o f o u r nation, we are committed to creating a clean economy by using cashless financial transactions. The menace of corruption and black money has adversely affected us for decades. Time to eliminate these for a better future,” Goyal tweeted.
In his tweet in Hindi, Nadda said: “Country changed, trust changed. A watchman was found in every person.”