Addressing a rally, Gandhi said 'chowkidaars' (watchmen) complain to him about the slogan 'chowkidaar chor hain' (watchmen are thieves). (Photo: ANI/ Twitter)

Ranchi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday in a rally at Ranchi, Jharkhand took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying all 'chowkidaars' are not thieves, but only 'desh ka chowkidaar' is a thief.

In the public address here, Gandhi said that 'chowkidaars' (watchmen) come to him and complain about the slogan 'chowkidaar chor hain' (watchmen are thieves). They say that they are not thieves but honest people, and ask me to change the slogan, the Congress chief said. "I tell them not to get worried, the entire country knows that when we say 'chowkidaar chor hain' it’s meant that we are talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Gandhi said. He also said, "One chowkidaar has defamed all the chowkidaars."

The Congress chief also attacked the Prime Minister on the Rafale issue, alleging corruption in the fighter jet deal. The government has repeatedly denied the allegations of graft levelled by the opposition party.

Rahul Gandhi also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over declining growth in the third quarter of this fiscal, saying the "chowkidaar" has once again failed in the numbers of the quarter. Gandhi's comment came a day after his party alleged that despite "fudging" of data by the Modi government, India's economy continues to slide.

"False promises, false games. The chowkidaar has failed again in this quarter's numbers," the Congress chief said on Twitter, citing a news report that India's growth declined to 6.6 per cent in the quarter ending December 2018.

On Friday, the Congress had tweeted that "as PM Modi's disastrous tenure comes to an end, despite all the fudging, the economy continues to slow." "Less than two months to go before India sees a new dawn," the party said on its official Twitter handle.

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram has said the latest quarterly growth rates "puncture" the government's claims on the economy.

"Quarterly growth rates of 2018-19 puncture the claims of government. Q1 was 8 per cent, Q2 was 7 per cent and Q3 was 6.6 per cent. This is the swan song of the BJP government. If Q4 growth rate declines further, as is expected, that will expose the government completely," Chidambaram tweeted.

In signs of the Indian economy losing steam ahead of the general elections, GDP growth slowed to a five-quarter low of 6.6 per cent in October-December on the back of the lower farm and manufacturing growth and weaker consumer demand, government data showed on Thursday.

Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘snatching’ Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Air Force, who defends the country.

Speaking at the party's Parivartan Ulgulan Maha Rally at the Morabadi Ground here, Gandhi alleged there was "corruption" in the Rafale deal and Rs 30,000 crore had been wrongfully given to Anil Ambani. "Vaayu Sena desh ki raksha karti hain aur hamare PM use chori karti hain (The IAF defends our country but the PM has snatched money from the force)," he said.

Gandhi alleged the Prime Minister had waived Rs 3.5 lakh crore loan of industrialists but not for farmers, students and shopkeepers. The Congress president said if his party is voted to power, it will give minimum guaranteed income. The money will be transferred directly to the accounts of the poor, he said.