NEW DELHI: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on on Monday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "main bhi chowkidar' (I too am watchman) campaign, saying he has turned the whole country into "chowkidars" after getting caught in the Rafale deal. He was addressing a public rally in Kalaburagi, Karnataka.


Gandhi, who had been repeatedly taking the "chowkidar chor hai"(watchman is the thief) jibe at Modi to claim irregularities and favouritism in the Rafale fighter jet deal, said the prime minister never said he would make the whole country "chowkidars".

Gandhi said Modi had told the people to make him a "chowkidar" and not prime minister, but was now turning the whole country into "chowkidars."

The whole country knows that "Chowkidar chor hai"," Gandhi said addressing a rally in the constituency of Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, in north Karnataka.

He told the crowd, "You had said- Chowkidar chor hai. But yesterday and day-before-yesterday Narendra Modi was attempting to turn whole country into chowkidars."

Gandhi said, "when he became Prime Minister, he said don't make me Prime Minister, make me chowkidar, do you remember? He had never said make whole of Hindustan into chowkidaars."

The Congress president said Modi had asked the people to make him the Prime Minister and he would become their chowkidar.

"Whose chowkidaari has he done? Did he do chowkidari of Anil Amabani or not? Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya- he did their chowkidari."

Gandhi said that on the day the Pulwama attack occurred when 40 CRPF men killed in a suicide bomber attack in Jammu and Kashmir, the same day "Chowkidar had given Adani six airports of Hindustan."

Earlier on Sunday, Gandhi took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the "Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign saying, "You can keep trying Mr Modi, but the truth cannot be smothered. Every Indian is saying it," Gandhi tweeted with the hashtag "Chowkidar Chor Hai" (watchman is a thief).

"P.S: Do force Sushma ji to add "Chowkidar" to her handle. It's looking very bad," he had said.

Modi had on Saturday urged his supporters to take the 'main bhai chowkidar' (I too am watchman) pledge, saying he is not alone in the fight against graft and social evils. He also posted a little over three minute video to drive home his message.

The prime minister has often described himself as a "chowkidar" who would neither allow corruption nor get corrupted himself.

Modi also changed the title of his Twitter handle to "Chowkidar Narendra Modi". Several Union ministers and senior BJP leaders, including Piyush Goyal, J.P. Nadda, Harsh Vardhan and Dharmendra Pradhan, quickly prefixed "Chowkidar" to their names on their Twitter accounts.

Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman added the prefix later in the day.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah changed his Twitter handle to "Chowkidar Amit Shah" and tweeted: "The one who made cleanliness a moral value... he is called Chowkidar #MainBhiChowkidar. Say with all your heart #ChowkidarPhirSe (watchman again)."

(With inputs from PTI)