New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s #MeinBhiChowkidar social media campaign has brought more embarrassment to the BJP then blunting opposition Congress’ ‘chowkidar chor hain’ narrative.
PM Modi had on Sunday renamed his Twitter handle, prefixing chowkidar to his name. The tweet also urged followers to support the hashtag ‘MeinBhiChowkidar’, in a bid to take on Rahul Gandhi who has accused the PM of corruption and helping Anil Ambani benefit from the Rafale deal.
But the damage had been done by the idea of using bots (automated programmes designed to behave like actual users) to send personalised thank-you note from the PM, using his Twitter handle, to everyone who used the hashtag #MainBhiChowkidar.
In a matter of minutes on Sunday, the message which carried a picture of the Prime Minister, his signature in Hindi and the slogan ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ was sent to even critics of Modi and parody accounts of the critics who had responded sarcastically to the campaign.
The personalised message was also sent to a parody account impersonating the fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi, who fled India last year after defrauding public sector banks to the tune of Rs 26,000 Crore.
What came as a major embarrassment for the BJP social media team was that the thank you message even went to a twitter handle named @ModiLeDubega.
BJP social media platforms were heavily trolled as minister after ministers and BJP-ruled state chief ministers followed suit after Modi renamed his twitter handle.
Taunting at the move, a twitterati wondered how US president Donald Trump would take it tagging ‘chawkidar Narendra Modi’ in his tweet. “Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will never hesitate addressing him as Mr Chowkidar,” said another twitterati.
BJP leaders from Odisha who have already renamed their twitter account are ‘chowkidar Dharmendra Pradhan’, ‘chowkidar Baijayant Jay Panda’, ‘chowkidar Suresh Pujari’ and ‘chowkidar Aparajita Sarangi’.
Twitter is now abuzz with a fresh campaign making the rounds since Monday morning, asking twitterati to chose between #MainBhiChowkidar and #ChowkidarChorHain.
Both supports and critics of the Prime Minister have jumped the bandwagon seeking public opinion. They include Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik
Let’s settle this —
What is India’s mood?
— Niranjan Patnaik (@NPatnaikOdisha) March 17, 2019
