Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday he will stand by his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ jibe as it is a reality and continue using the slogan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he apologised to the Supreme Court as he felt he had made a mistake.
“There is a process is going on in the Supreme Court and I made a comment attributed to SC so I apologised. I did not apologise to the BJP or Modi ji. ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ will remain our slogan,” he said.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi: Process is going on in Supreme Court and I made a comment attributed to SC so I apologized. I did not apologize to BJP or Modi ji. ‘Chowkidar Chor hai’ will remain our slogan pic.twitter.com/ZQqv72jZNW
— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2019
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The Congress president also reiterated his challenge for a debate with the prime minister over what he called ‘fundamental issues’ like jobs, economy and agriculture.
He also took a swipe at the BJP on the release of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar back in 1999.
“Who sent Masood Azhar to Pakistan? Did Congress send him to Pakistan? Which government negotiated with terrorism? Congress didn’t send him there. The reality is that BJP compromises with terrorism,” Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi: Strictest of actions should be taken against Masood Azhar, but who sent him back to Pakistan? Who bowed down to terror and released him? Not the Congress, but it was the BJP Govt. pic.twitter.com/nbdmHksHmB
— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2019
The JeM chief on Wednesday designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council. Masood Azhar and two other terrorists were released by India in 1999 in exchange for passengers held hostage on board IC-814 flight hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.