’15 lac to every Indian bank ac by Modi,’ reads the description of a video uploaded on YouTube on April 13 by a channel pseudonymously named ‘F**k your fakeeri’, a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘humble’ image created by the media and a question that Prasoon Joshi asked the PM during a more than obviously scripted interview.
The ‘Chowkidar rap‘ starts with Modi’s pre-2014 election speech about bringing back black money. To the beat of Eminem’s Lose Yourself, the rap goes on to describe and slam the last five years of the Modi government.
With the chorus ‘Ye chowkidar chor hai’, the song discusses demonetisation, black money, employment and of course, achhe din — kaala dhan aayega, gareebi ko hatayega, job lagegi, kehta acche din laayega (will bring back black money, poverty will be eradicated, people will get jobs, good days will come).
Much like the Modi government, this promising verse immediately pivots to the despondent reality. Jhootey tere waade, chor nikal ke bhaagey hai, ye chowkidar sota aur deshwaasi jaage hain. (Your promises are lies, the thieves are absconding, this chowkidar is sleeping and the public is awake).
Watch the full song here:
The rap provides damning commentary on the BJP government’s conduct — divisive politics (ekta ki hatya bolo ram nam satya hai and ab nahi insaan koi bas Hindu Musalman hain), politicisation of the Pulwama terror attack and the armed forces (booth ki hai baat to shaheed ko bhi bech de and war ka hai shauq ise ye banda adamkhor hai ), cow-related violence (chai pe hai charcha ya gaaye pe hai charcha), assault on civil liberties and killing of journalists (marti aazaadi, marwaane ke hum aadi hain and Gauri Lankesh jaisa qatl ho gaya aasaan, jo bola woh mara, jo hai zinda bezuban ) and the state of the mainstream media (aajkal hai sach wahi jo media dikhati hai).
While it has a little over 5,000 views on YouTube at the time this story was written, the rebellious anthem has set social media abuzz.
Gully gully mein shor hai.
Yeh chowkidaar chor hai!Whoever this MC Ghalib is, this is one hell of a protest video!https://t.co/BWJRAIOTiN
— Amit Varma (@amitvarma) April 17, 2019
"Mann ki baat bore hai
Ye chowkidar chor hai."Set to the beat of 'Lose Yourself' with the lyrical cadence of 'Apna Time Aayega' – this is a must watch election rap.https://t.co/6jRZmQu4Ij
— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) April 17, 2019
Last month, a similar song by artist Aamir Aziz called ‘Achhe Din Blues‘ had taken the internet by storm.