Modi asks voters to choose between ‘honest chowkidar’ and ‘corrupt naamdar’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi, asking voters to choose between an ‘Imandar Chowkidar’ (honest watchman) and a ‘bhrashtachari naamdar’ (corrupt dynast). He was addressing an election rally in support of the BJP’s candidates for the Ahmednagar and Shirdi Lok Sabha seats.

Attack on the Congress

Modi claimed that the world had recognised India as a major power over the past five years. He asked the crowd whether they remembered the decade of what he called a remote-controlled government, saying scams and delays in decision-making were common then.

Addressing first-time voters, he said people born in the 21st century would be voting for the first time, and asked whether they accepted the weak approach of earlier governments on national security. He also criticised the National Conference, a Congress ally, for its demand for a separate prime minister for Jammu and Kashmir, saying he expected nothing from the Congress because it had long stopped thinking about the people.

Swipe at Sharad Pawar

Modi accused NCP president Sharad Pawar of keeping quiet on the demand for two prime ministers. Referring to the party’s name, he asked whether the word Rashtravadi (nationalist) was there only to fool people, and said Pawar had once left the Congress for the sake of the nation.

Modi also linked the income tax raids on aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath to Rahul Gandhi, calling it a “Tughlak Road chunavi ghotala” (election scam). He said the Congress had to be decisively defeated to end poverty and build modern infrastructure, and claimed that there had been no terror attacks because the “chowkidar” had made terrorists fear they would be found and punished.

What happened next

The BJP won 303 of 543 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and Narendra Modi was sworn in for a second term on 30 May 2019.

See also: Nationalist Congress Party

Originally published on 12 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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