By Shashank Gouri from New York
Rahul Gandhi must be ruing the day his party coined the phrase ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai.’ In a bid to counter the ruling BJP’s strategy to transition Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Chaiwala to Chowkidar, the Congress might have finally met its match in Modi-Shah as they are left grappling with the ruling party’s fightback led by PM Modi himself. It all started on May 5th when PM Modi, having tolerated enough of the Congress’ ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ jibe, launched a blistering attack on the Congress President’s father and ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in a political rally in Lucknow. When Modi thundered that Rajiv Gandhi’s ‘Mr. Clean’ image had turned into that of ‘Brashtachari No.1’ during his lifetime, we were all left wondering if the Prime Minister had lost the plot by dragging the name of a former Prime Minister who had died tragically nearly three decades ago. But after sustained attacks on Rajiv Gandhi over the next few days, it seems like a strategy chalked out by the BJP to rattle Congress. A strategy that seems to be working thus far. As I have been keenly observing the election campaign unfold and reach its final stage, I have noticed a few things about the Modi-Shah controlled BJP that make them the perfect adversary to the rudderless Grand Old Party:
