Just days before a video conference planned by the BJP to mobilise people who had pledged support to the #MainBhiChowkidar campaign, the party may have to mitigate a possible PR disaster as Subramanian Swamy, one of its leaders and MPs, made a casteist comment that may diminish this outreach initiative.
“I am a Brahmin. I cannot become a chowkidar”, Swamy had said in an interview to a Tamil news channel. He remarked so when asked why he did not add “chowkidar” before his name on Twitter.
On March 17, top BJP leaders, including the prime minister, prefixed the term “chowkidar” to their names on Twitter in an effort to counter the Congress' “Chowkidar Chor Hai” jibe.
The clip of the interview is being shared widely on social media.
Despite Modi asserting that a “chowkidar” is anyone who is “fighting corruption, dirt, social evils”, it is impossible to shake off casteist overtones which had long defined that word. Swamy's admission is proof of that.
