Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chowkidar’ jibe against him and used it in the BJP’s poll campaign, it has instantly struck a chord with the masses and an overwhelming majority of the people have come out and openly supported PM Modi in his #MainBhiChowkidar campaign.
This has obviously caused ripples among the politicians in the opposition political spectrum with many indulging in outrageous racial attacks against Nepalis in their endeavour to belittle Prime Minister’s Chowkidar campaign. Latest to join this list is Congress party’s Navjot Singh Sidhu.
हिन्दुस्तान की सबसे बड़ी भूल… कमल का फूल|
#FekkuDiwas की बधाई! सबसे तेज़ फेकने वाला…
इस अप्रैल दो फूलों से बचके रहें,
अप्रैल फूल और कमल का फूल,
क्योंकि दोनो बेवकूफ बनाते हैं|कृपया इस बार प्रधानमंत्री चुने,
ईमानदार चौकीदार नेपाल से मँगवा लेंगे|#AprilFoolKamalKaPhool pic.twitter.com/PFcvTfB8fe— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) April 1, 2019
In an attempt to take a swipe at PM Modi and run down his Chowkidar campaign, Siddhu posted a tweet urging Indians to elect a Prime Minister this time while an honest Chowkidar can be acquired from Nepal as well. Siddhu also attached a video in the tweet slamming PM Modi and glorifying Pandit Nehru.
Before Sidhu, AAP MLA Alka Lamba had posted similar disparaging tweet perpetrating racism against Nepalis with an intention of taking on the PM Modi’s Chowkidar campaign. However, facing a severe backlash from various Twitter users including Nepalis, she had promptly taken down the tweet.
It is not the first time that Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has stirred a controversy. A few weeks back, Sidhu had made a controversial remark about the Pulwama attack. He also faced severe flak for posing with known Khalistani terrorist Gopal Singh Chawla for photographs during his visit to Pakistan.
While it is absolutely fine to attack politicians, their campaigns, but it is outrightly unacceptable to indulge in casual racism. By doing this, Sidhu is normalising racism and stereotyping Nepali community. Implying that people of Nepal can be only good security guard is among the worst examples of racism. Racism can be eliminated when legislators and politicians display no-tolerant policy towards it. But when a legislator himself indulges in passing racist slurs, racism will only gain ground. It is unbecoming of a politician to resort to racism in order to take on his ideological adversary.
