NEW DELHI: The Congress Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Main Bhi Chowkidar” campaign, alleging that he is trying to befool the people by pretending to be a “chowkidar”.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Modi government does not have anything to offer to the people after being in power for five years and therefore, was resorting to such a campaign.
“Modi is trying to resell his brand which has already flopped and is thus changing its packaging, name and colour to achieve his goal,” he told reporters.
Surejwala claimed that in 2013, Modi had promised to bring back 80 lakh crore of black money stashed abroad and putting Rs 15 lakh into the accounts of every individual.
“In 2014, just ahead of the elections he promised the people of bringing ‘achche din’ (good days) in the country and in 2015, changed it to ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’.
“In 2016, Modi ji said he will build a ‘New India’ and in 2017 said ‘mera desh badal raha hai’ (my country is changing), while in 2018 he told the people that he will work with ‘saaf neeyat, sahi vikas’ (clean intent and proper development). In 2019, Modi has said ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’,” he said.
The prime minister is certain about his defeat and is “rattled”. Therefore, he is changing his poll slogans so many times, the Congress leader said.
“When Congress president Rahul Gandhi exposed Prime Minister Modi about the theft done by the ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) in the Rafale deal, the ‘chowkidar’ is now resorting to a fresh drama,” Surejwala said.
The government has repeatedly denied any corruption in the deal.
“Modi’s policy is to steal the money of the poor and give it to the rich, and instead of redressing the problems of farmers, youth, economy and ending corruption, he has indulged in stealing jobs of the youth, farmers’ prices of produce, women safety rights, rights of Dalits and the oppressed sections, and small businessmen during his five years of rule,” he alleged.
Surjewala also hit out at Modi’s ministers and BJP leaders, alleging that they were adding ‘Chowkidar’ to their Twitter handles in a bid to hoodwink and befool the public once again. This will not be allowed by the wise voters, he said. PTI
