lok-sabha-elections

Updated: May 04, 2019 12:24 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday he will stand by his “Chowkidar Chor Hai” jibe as it is a reality and continue using the slogan again Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi said during a press conference in New Delhi that he apologised to the Supreme Court as he felt he had made a mistake.

“There is a process is going on in the Supreme Court and I made a comment attributed to SC so I apologised. I did not apologise to the BJP or Modi ji. ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ will remain our slogan,” he said.

As he launched another attack on the Prime Minister, he took on the issues of unemployment and agrarian crisis and criticised Modi for “insulting” India’s armed forces.

Rahul Gandhi said that it is clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is losing in the Lok Sabha election 2019 and is conducting a “panicky campaign”.

“More than half of the elections are over and there is clear cut feeling that Modiji is losing … Our general assessment is clearly saying that BJP is losing the elections,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“The reality is that Modiji is losing the elections and it’s visible on his face,” he said.

The main issues facing the country, he said, were unemployment and the crisis facing the farmers of the country but the Prime Minister said nothing about the concerns of the common people.

“The biggest issue right now is unemployment and the way Modi ji has destroyed the economy. The country is asking that Modi ji you promised us two crore jobs, what about that? He doesn’t speak a word on jobs or farmers as he has nothing to say,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Hitting out at the Prime Minister, Gandhi said: “Modiji’s entire strategy is to distract. We have fought four to five elections with him. We have fought against him in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As soon as he realises that he is not going to win then he brings something new like he brought seaplane in Gujarat.”

The Congress does not politicise the army, Rahul Gandhi said, and it is not anyone’s property as Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioned the Congress’ claims that the UPA government had carried out six surgical strikes during its tenure.

“The army, air force or navy are not the personal property of Narendra Modi ji like he thinks. When he says that surgical strikes during the UPA were done in video games then he is not insulting Congress but the army,” Gandhi said.

The Congress president’s remarks come a day after the Prime Minister said during a public meeting in Rajasthan’s Sikar that the party which questioned the surgical strikes is now saying “me too, me too”.

The issue of surgical strikes has been a regular refrain in PM Modi’s electoral speeches after the IAF’s air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad training facility at Balakot in Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama suicide bombing in which 40 CRPF jawans had lost their lives. He had even asked the first-time voters to dedicate their vote to Balakot.