lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 21, 2019 12:36 IST

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Gujarat and long-time associates of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not surprised by the PM building a political movement centered around the word “Chowkidar” in the run-up to the 2019 general elections next month. According to them, time and again, Modi has shown himself adept at launching mass political movements using simple phrases – including, they add, riffs off ones thrown at him by the opposition.

The Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign, they add, is one such – a riposte of sorts to the Congress’ Chowkidar Chor Hai campaign launched by the Congress, which alleged wrongdoing in the Rafale fighter jet deal. The leaders say that the Supreme Court ruling and the report by the Comptroller and Auditor general have proved beyond doubt that there was no corruption in the deal.

According to the Gujarat leaders, when Modi joined the BJP in 1987-88 from the party’s ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the party was at its lowest point – it had been reduced to two seats in 1984 Lok Sabha elections. Trying to revive the party in Gujarat, Modi noticed a slogan “ Jai Baba Satguru” painted on walls all over the state. He hired 10 painters and asked them to paint the party’s Lotus symbol using top quality paint (so that it would not wash off) all over Gujarat. Subsequently, he added a line “ Bas, Ab BJP” to the symbol in the state. The political message was to vote out the Congress party. In 1995 Keshubhai Patel became the first BJP Chief Minister of Gujarat.

On similar lines, when he was chief minister of the state, Modi coined the slogan “ Jeetega Gujarat (Gujarat will win)”, which identified him with the aspirational state, in effect portraying the Opposition as anti-Gujarat.

The “Chowkidar” movement, according to top party strategists, is a brainchild of Modi, and conceptualised with a small band of tech-savvy followers.

The slogan again identifies Modi as the protector of India along with millions who have now joined the movement.