Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state Gujarat, saying the slogan “chowkidaar chor hai” had become famous across the country, the Hindustan Times reported. Modi, on several occasions, has referred to himself as chowkidaar or watchman. Opposition parties claim the watchman has now become a thief.
“Earlier, there used to be the slogan ‘achche din’ and you used to say ‘ayenge’,” Gandhi said at a Jan Aakrosh rally in Gujarat’s Valsad. “But today, that slogan has been replaced by chowkidaar chor hai. So much so that even the former French president also says chowkidaar chor hai.”
Gandhi attacked Modi and the BJP government at the Centre on the Rafale deal and demonetisation. “During demonetisation, Amit Shah converted his Rs 700 crore black money into white through cooperative banks,” he claimed.
On the Rafale deal, Gandhi claimed that government documents showed the prime minister stole Rs 30,000 crore from the Air Force and gave it to businessman Anil Ambani. “Defence Ministry officials clearly stated that Narendra Modi was conducting a parallel negotiation with Dassault.”
A report in The Hindu last week said the Ministry of Defence in 2015 objected to “parallel negotiations” conducted by the Prime Minister’s Office with France when the two countries were discussing the Rafale jet deal.
Gandhi listed out projects undertaken by the BJP government like the Bharat Mala highways project, bullet train project and the industrial corridor project. “We aren’t against them,” Gandhi said. “But the farmers and tribals need justice. If you can give the Rafale contract to Anil Ambani, you must give justice to the farmers and tribals as well.”
Gandhi said Modi claimed the government was working on the Bharat Mala project in Gujarat. “It is not the Bharat Mala project. It is the Bharat mara project. They are killing the country,” the Congress chief said.
Gandhi said the Congress introduced the Land Acquisition Bill, which stated that land should be acquired at four times the market price with the consent of farmer.
He also praised the Congress governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for waiving farm loans. “It didn’t take us 10 days, we did it in two days,” he said. “There is no dearth of money.”
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