Chowkidar Narendra Modi, PM flaunts prefix

A day after launching the "Main Bhi Chowkidar (I am a watchman too)" campaign on social media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday changed the title of his Twitter account to "Chowkidar Narendra Modi".

BJP President Amit Shah followed 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, J.P. Nadda, Harsh Vardhan and Dharmendra Pradhan followed suit, changing their names similarly on Twitter accounts.

On Saturday after Modi launched his party's "Main Bhi Chowkidar (I am a watchman too)" campaign ahead of the general election that begins in April. He posted a video with the same title on Twitter, saying: "Your Chowkidar is standing firm and serving the nation".

The campaign counters Congress President Rahul Gandhi's repeated attacks on Modi and his government over various alleged malhandling of economic and defence deals and situations, with the slogan, "Chowkidar Chor Hai (watchman is a thief)".

"Five years ago, chowkidar said he wanted to fight corruption. He said he wanted to make it a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'. Today, the slogan of 'Acche Din Aayenge' has changed to 'Chowkidar chor hai'," Gandhi has been repeating at rallies.

Gandhi latched on to the word "chowkidar" as Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaigning promised to work as a "chowkidar" to guard people's money and their trust once elected.

--IANS

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