PM Narendra Modi is now Chowkidar Narendra Modi on Twitter, all thanks to BJP’s latest campaign #MainBhiChowkidar that has been trending on the micro-blogging site.
On Saturday 16 March, Narendra Modi tweeted a video which featured people across the country lip syncing to “haan, main bhi chowkidar hoon”. “Your Chowkidar is standing firm & serving the nation,” the tweet said, adding that every Indian who fights corruption and social evils is a Chowkidar. A day later, Modi also prefixed the term ‘Chowkidar’ to his Twitter handle, turning into Chowkidar Narendra Modi.
This is how the #MainBhiChowkidar campaign unfolded on Twitter.
BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Amit Shah, Piyush Goyal, JP Nadda and others followed suit and added ‘Chowkidar’ to their Twitter handles.
But External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj didn’t take to the Chowkidar prefix until Sunday night. Rahul Gandhi made a funny tweet out of it.
Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, too, waited until after most of the other ministers jumped on the Chowkidar bandwagon.
‘’Chowkidar’’ is not a new entrant to the election campaign. It all began when Modi said in a pre-election statement that he would like to be the Chowkidar (watchman) of the country rather than the prime minister.
Congress later used the term ‘Chowkidar’’ to poke fun at Modi. Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the ‘Chowkidar’ did not do anything when Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi fled the country after looting Indian banks. Congress had also come up with the #ChowkidarChorHai to accuse Modi of corruption including irregularities in the Rafale deal.
It is at a time like this that Modi and the BJP came up with the #MainBhiChowkidar campaign, asking citizens of the country to be Chowkidars or watchmen of the nation. What followed is a war of words as the Opposition took a dig at the campaign and said that this shows that Modi is getting defensive and guilty.
Opposition Reacts
Rahul Gandhi responded to the campaign with images of Modi, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Anil Ambani and others and asked if Modi is feeling guilty.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted that the campaign is “unworthy of a serious prime minister of a serious country.”
P Chidambaram’s sarcastic tweet said the ‘Chowkidar’ he had appointed is missing and has gone looking for ‘achhe din’.
Many questions were raised on the objective behind such a campaign and what it will ultimately achieve.
Debating Recall Value
Some Twitter users said the campaign actually benefited Congress more than the BJP.
Congress’ hashtag #ChowkidarChorHai has a better recall value, argued one Twitter user. “By using the same term Chowkidaar & making it appear defensive, you ensured the reach of the competitor tagline went event further. Basically you paid to promote your competition,” she said.
Making Light Of Unemployment
SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav said such a campaign is disrespectful towards the unemployed youth and farmers in the country who were forced to become night watchmen.
Another Twitter user agreed with this thought, said real Chowkidars work hard so that their kids don’t have to be janitors. At a time when there are no jobs, it is senseless to be part of a marketing campaign, she said.
Meanwhile, the campaign got a few unpredicted responses too.
#MeToo Chowkidar
Among those who joined the Chowkidar trend was Former Union Minister MJ Akbar who was named for sexual harassment in the #MeToo movement last year.
Akbar had resigned from his post of Ministry Of State for Foreign Affairs after around 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct. As soon as he added the ‘Chowkidar’ prefix to his name, Akbar began receiving backlash on Twitter.
Actor Renuka Shahane said in her tweet, “Agar aap bhi chowkidaar hain toh koi mahila surakshit nahi #BesharmiKiHadd @IndiaMeToo.”
MJ Akbar dropped the Chowkidar prefix after this tweet but hours later, he added the prefix again.
Bot Trouble
In another awkward incident, an automated tweet from PM’s twitter handle congratulated the troll account of the fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, for participating in the campaign.
Another troll account @ModiLeDubega also received Modi’s ‘gratitude’.
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