Star campaigner Yogi Adityanath’s “batenge toh katenge” slogan, which is at the forefront of the Maharashtra party campaign, is not only making its supporters cringe, but it is also deeply unsettling some BJP leaders, as expressed by Ashok Chavan and Pankaja Munde. His concerns have also been expressed by friends, including Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, who claims that although such slogans might be effective in the north, they are inappropriate for Maharashtra, the “land of saints and followers of Shiva.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already modified the “batenge toh katenge (Division is destruction)” slogan, which the opposition claimed had communal overtones. “Ek hai toh safe hai,” PM Modi has reframed its message of unity earlier this month.
However, it did not stop party officials and allies from expressing their disgust. The first to speak up was Pankaja Munde, the daughter of the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde.
“Frankly, my politics is different. I won’t support it just because I belong to the same party. My belief is that we should work on development alone. A leader’s job is to make every living person on this land as our own. Therefore, we need not bring any such topic to Maharashtra,” she said yesterday.
Ashok Chavan, who joined the BJP in February ahead of the Lok Sabha election after formerly belonging to the Congress, made his position clear today.
“There is no relevance of this (slogan). Slogans are given at election time. This particular slogan is not in good taste and I don’t think people will appreciate it. Personally speaking, I am not in favour of such slogans,” he told news agency.
Then it was the turn of Ajit Pawar, who did not mince words either. “I am not supporting it. I have said this several times. It will not work in Maharashtra. This may work in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, or some other places,” said the nephew of Sharad Pawar, whose undivided party enjoyed considerable support among the Muslims.
The Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction is reportedly also concerned about the slogan’s ability to sway the minority vote in support of the opposition and spread the welfare and development message that its government has been putting a lot of effort into. However, no party leader has yet to publicly address the issue.
Today, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made an attempt to explain the issue, saying Pankaja Munde and Ashok Chavan have failed to grasp the “core meaning” of the slogan, which is actually a message of unity.
“Batenge to katenge is a counter-narrative to the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi’s divisive campaign, and the core message of the slogan is that “everyone has to stick together,” Mr Fadnavis said during an interaction with the media.
Responding to Ajit Pawar, Mr Fadnavis told ANI that the NCP leader has stayed with “secular and anti-Hindu ideologies” for decades. “He has stayed with people for whom opposing Hindutva is secularism. It will take some time for him to understand the mood of the public,” he said.
The Opposition MVA, meanwhile, is hugely enjoying the ruling alliance’s discomfiture.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has asked the BJP to choose between Yogi Adityanath’s “divisive” slogan and PM Modi’s call for unity.
“While Yogi says, ‘Batenge toh katenge,’ Modi introduces the conflicting slogan, ‘Ek hain toh safe hain (If we’re united, we’re safe).’ You decide between yourselves whose slogan should be followed-Yogiji’s or Modi’s?”
NCP’s Supriya Sule said the party that broke parties has itself got divided. “They are in two minds in the BJP. On one side Devabhau says one thing and on the other side ally Pankaja Munde says something else… We will have to ask Devabhau how did this become 50-50?” she said.
Shaina NC, who is contesting on a Shiv Sena ticket, accused the MVA of tweaking statements. “MVA is spreading a false narrative… MVA is deliberately cutting some statements of our leaders and spreading a false narrative. MVA does not know what the context is. These people are talking dirty”.
BJP’s Kirit Somaiya said, “Yogi-ji has said that if we are divided, we will be divided. Modi ji is saying that if we are united, we are safe. We are saying vote jihad for a reason. We are just warning people against vote jihad. All BJP leaders are saying the same thing. Some leaders’ statements have gone wrong, but everyone’s fight is the same”.
