Kalaburagi/Bengaluru: Even as many BJP leaders including Modi and the party’s president Amit Shah have prefixed the word ‘chowkidar’ to their names in their Twitter profile in a way of intensifying the ‘Main bhi chowkidar’ campaign, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Modi yesterday.
The Congress president yesterday accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attempting to convert the whole country into watchmen after he got caught in the Rafale deal. “Chowkidar was caught indulging in theft and as he was caught, chowkidar says the whole of Hindustan is chowkidar. But before getting caught, the entire Hindustan was not chowkidar,” slammed Rahul.
The BJP leaders were retaliating Rahul’s sustained ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ statement by adding the word ‘Chowkidar’ to their names in their Twitter profiles.
Speaking at a rally in Kalaburagi, which is the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge in north Karnataka, Rahul said, “Before getting caught only Narendra Modi was chowkidar. Thief has been caught (chor pakdagaya). The whole country knows that ‘Chowkidar chor hai.'”
He further charged the BJP and RSS of attempting to scrap the Constitution just like he scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes through demonetisation. He blamed that Modi was not allowing Supreme Court to function and was pressurising the Election Commission and that he was responsible for spreading hatred between two religions. He further assured the gathering that the Congress would never let Modi and RSS succeed in their mission.
Taking part in an interaction with entrepreneurs in Bengaluru, Rahul Gandhi claimed that Modi and Anil Ambani would land in jail if the documents of parallel negotiations with the French government by the PMO become part of an inquiry into the Rafale deal.
He was replying to a question by a participant who wanted to know why everybody was going around saying ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’. Gandhi claimed that the Rafale aircraft was supposed to be bought from French company Dassault at Rs 526 crore for which eight years of negotiations happened during UPA rule. However, when the new government took over, the prime minister himself held parallel negotiations, he claimed, adding, instead of paying Rs 526 crore for each aircraft, the government agreed to pay Rs 1,600 crore.
He further questioned if Modi wasn’t guilty why didn’t he investigate the case and put those responsible in jail. Modi had only helped industrialists like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksey and Anil Ambani.
“Modi’s friends have been given, one after the other, and they have only got caught on Rafale, which happens to be the really big contract in the world. So that’s why everybody is saying chowkidar chor hai,” he said.
The environment in the country today is filled with anger and tension. The nation’s liberal nature, open system and institutions were being attacked and suppressed, Rahul claimed.