Rahul may have given the poll slogan with chowkidar but now Modi is hellbent on appropriating it to his advantage
What is election season without a war of words by rival parties? Or pop-up slogans that see the country’s top spin doctors and ad gurus at play, preparing themselves for a campaign to catch the fancy of the voter weary with circumstance? But 2019 is different with social media becoming a dominant plank and each political leader rhyming his own sell points, putting himself out there without mincing words and climbing the trend meter. Must say that in this respect the Congress, particularly its president Rahul Gandhi, has worked up a few punchlines and counters that have been more successful in stitching up a theme than its narrative of alliances in states, considering the BJP’s achche din and sabka saath currently lie in tatters. And though the Rafale deal has not quite washed with the masses or classes, Rahul’s slogan around it, implicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for favouring crony capitalists in the jet deal and other scams — chowkidar chor hai (watchman is the real thief) — has grabbed eyeballs. But what Rahul had not bargained for was that he had unwittingly gifted BJP a copywriter’s gem at a time when the latter was struggling to get a top-of-the-mind recall. So it has turned the slogan on its head, screaming #MainBhiChowkidar and emphasising why vigilantes are needed to save the country from dynastic entitlements and institutional corruption. While Modi himself has used the jibe to justify his gatekeeping duties for the nation as a pradhan sevak, he has also taken on the rather patronising nature of the terminology, like the chaiwala comment by Congressmen before, to suitably focus on his origins that the privileged and the classists hate to dignify. In this assertion, he has made everybody a stakeholder, from his ministerial and party colleagues to the common man. Automated replies in the form of “dark tweets” were sent to over one lakh Twitter users from Modi’s personal handle on Saturday, the hashtag drawing a record nine lakh tweets. Of course, senior Congressman P Chidambaram tried to rescue the damage, saying, “Main bhi chowkidar because the chowkidar I had appointed is missing.” And chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala listed huge thefts of the chowkidar chor, claiming that jobs, farmers’ rights, women’s welfare and business incentives were stolen from the nation. Of course, the strongest retort came from Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra herself, dismissing the BJP’s buoyancy with a pinprick of her own wit — “Chowkidars are for the rich.” But the fact is the BJP ran away with the accusation as its armour, converting a liability into an asset.
The question is whether this reactive approach on rhetoric actually works for the BJP or puts it in a straitjacket of simple anti-Congressism. Going by past experiences, particularly the “suit boot ki sarkar” taunt of the Congress, the BJP did reorient its strategies and schemes to appear welfarist than capitalist. To the extent, it slowed down the pace of some economic reforms in the process. So one wonders if the Congress propaganda machine has actually restricted the BJP to a specific and predictable trope or not. Of course, the BJP is notionally better placed following the Balakot airstrikes and lining up allies on the ground with much pragmatism and a degree of humility, but it is certainly not taking a chance, even with the chowkidar memes, and doesn’t want to lose any debate. Particularly when the Congress is also preying on its Hindutva base, the party scions visiting temples, offering puja at shrines and Priyanka being christened as Ganga ki Beti as she chooses more plebeian ways of interaction like boat rides and street chats. No matter how deep your ear is to the ground, in the new age, optics make for new gladiatorial stakes. Come May, we will know who can convince us about being the better vigilante of society or the avenger of wrongs.
