With the Congress reacting derisively to numerous BJP leaders and party supporters adding the prefix of 'chowkidar' to their Twitter handles, a minister of the saffron party in Haryana has hit back at the opposition party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the initiative of prefixing chowkidar on his Twitter handle on Sunday as part of the BJP's Main Bhi Chowkidar (I, too, am a watchman) campaign to highlight commitment to combating corruption.
Haryana Minister for Health and Sports Anil Vij, who is no stranger to attracting controversy, tweeted on Tuesday that those who oppose BJP leaders prefixing 'chowkidar' to their Twitter handles, should add the prefix 'Pappu' to their handles. Pappu is a derogatory term used by BJP supporters to poke fun at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Tweeting in Hindi, Vij declared, “we (BJP supporters) would have no problem with those adding Pappu”. Vijay, naturally, changed his Twitter handle to include the chowkidar prefix.
The Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign has attracted considerable criticism from opposition parties since Modi announced it on Saturday. On Sunday evening, Gandhi mischievously tweeted Modi should “force” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to add the chowkidar prefix, alluding to the delay in her joining party colleagues. Gandhi also tweeted, “You can keep trying Mr Modi, but the truth cannot be extinguished,” highlighting his slogan of 'chowkidar chor hai'.
On Monday, Patidar agitation leader and newly inducted Congress member Hardik Patel responded to the Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign in his own way, adding the prefix Berojgar (unemployed) to his Twitter handle. Lack of job opportunities was one of the key issues highlighted by Patel when he launched his agitation to demand reservation benefits for the Patidar community in 2015.
(This story first appeared in The Week)
