New Delhi: Intensifying his ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ (I too am a watchman) campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 31 will interact with people, who have pledged their support to the campaign, from 500 places across the country.
Speaking at a press conference here, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the campaign has become a “people’s movement” as the ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ hashtag has been tweeted 20 lakh times and had 1680 crore impressions.
On Saturday, Modi on Twitter had urged his supporters to take the ‘main bhai chowkidar’ pledge, saying he is not alone in the fight against graft and social evils.
BJP leaders, including its president Amit Shah and Union ministers, followed suit and later prefixed their name on the microblogging site with ‘chowkidar’ as they sought people’s support for the party in the Lok Sabha polls.
Prasad said Modi will interact with people from different walks of life, including BJP leaders and allies, professionals and farmers, from some “field location” through video-conference.
Replying to a question if the campaign was a counter to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s ‘chowkidar chor hai’ (watchman is thief) barb, he rejected the suggestion and asserted that Modi in his campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls had projected himself as the “first servant” and ‘chowkidar’ of the country.
Taking a dig at the Congress, Prasad said people, who are out on bail and are being investigated, have a problem with this campaign as they have a lot to hide.
“If they have nothing to hide, then they should also join the campaign,” he said, describing the campaign as a “positive narrative” of the masses for a “corruption-free” India.
Mocking Modi’s social media campaign, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said, “Defensive tweet Mr Modi! You feeling a little guilty today” as he tagged a picture of the prime minister with fugitive businessmen such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi besides industrialists Anil Ambani and Gautam Adani.
Also read: PM Modi’s allies exempt from ‘chowkidar’ prefix drive, but it spares none in BJP
2014 BJP used Chaiwalas and 2019 poor Chowkidar has come handy. Neither in 2014 or in 2019, the real Chaiwalas or Chowkidar would get a ticket in BJP or any other party. I very well know BJP in different avatar and other opposition parties would campaign with slogan “Gali Mein Shor Hai Indira Gandhi Chor hai. That time probably the present ruling didn’t think it is not right to use such slogan against the then PM and now Rahul Gandhi is returning the same coin which has hurt BJP so much that they are planning to use Mai be Chowkidar campaign. Having said this PM should take and stop this and focus on what is their achievement and what they plan to do. Similarly Rahul should not stress too much Chowkidar Chor etc which would be counter productive in long run. It looks like Rahul seems to be angry that Modi and others have used derogatory remarks against his family members and using this opportunity to counter attack. One both Modi and Rahul set an example to others around them