In an attempt to beat the BJP in its own game, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel put the tagline “Han mein chota admi hun (Yes, I am a small man) on his official Twitter handle.
This was Baghel’s way of trying to twist to his advantage the slur BJP leveled on him for presenting a mirror to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April Fool’s Day urging him to see his face on it.
Reacting to the gesture, former chief minister and BJP national vice president Raman Singh said: “Only a small man can do such an act.”
Replying to the comment, Baghel tweeted, “Yes, I am a small man, a son of a farmer. I pray to god that I should remain so forever. I can be accessible to each farmer, tribal, youth and common man from Bastar to Surguja and from Raipur to Supebeda. You have become a ‘Big Man’; Greetings to you for it. ”
In another tweet, Baghel said, “If providing benefit to farmers, justice to tribal, is an act of narrow mindedness, then it is acceptable to me. I will 100 times become small for poor, workers, farmers’ and tribal, and would prefer to remain small by standing for them.”
Modi often turns the table on his critics by giving a spin to their accusing remarks. For instance, when the Congress coined the phrase “chowkida chor hain,” to attack him, Modi immediately let all his supporters prefix the word “chowkidar” before their names in their social media profiles.
The BJP, however, flayed Baghel for the tagline he put in his social media account.
“By merely writing ‘small man’, the Congress cannot wash off its tainted politics,” BJP state president Vikram Usendi said in a statement.
He also pointed out that the Congress was trying to copy Modi’s catchphrase, ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’.
“In front of towering and nationalist leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the narrow acts of Congress have dwarfed its political stature. After having ruled the country, now the Congress is appealing to small regional parties for alliance but the other opposition parties are not ready to accept the Congress leadership,” he said.
