This time they differ over the BJP’s catchline, ‘Batenge to Katenge’
Mumbai: Though multiplicity of voices within Mahayuti over the ‘batenge to katenge’ slogan exposed cracks within the grand alliance, senior BJP leaders have said that attempts are being made to create confusion over the slogans because they have effectively countered the narrative spread by the Congress during the Lok Sabha elections.
BJP Rajya Sabha member and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had said, “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.”
Another prominent leader from Marathwada, BJP MLC Pankaja Munde, too in an interview given to some news channels, had said, “Frankly, 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.”
While DCM and NCP leader Ajit Pawar, too had earlier voiced differences over this slogan saying that, “The North (India) may accept this, not us. We have people with different backgrounds in our state. I am of the opinion that such things should not be said.”
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, while interacting with news channels, blamed the ‘pseudo secular’ environment in which the leaders were for the long time for their dislike towards the slogan and also said that they must not have realized the how positive those slogans are.
“In politics narratives need to be countered. In the Lok Sabha polls, Congress indulged in vote jihad. Fatwas were issued by maulvis and along with that, Congress created divisions along caste lines. That means on the one hand, they polarised Muslims, and on the other, divided Hindus. Historically whenever there was a division of society, the country was divided and society suffered. So, I think ‘batenge toh katenge’ and ‘ek hain toh safe hain’ are positive slogans for unity and there is nothing wrong with it,” Fadnavis said. “Ajit Pawar, Ashok Chavan come from a different ideology. They had been surrounded with pseudo-secular groups for a long time. Hence, they’re unable to understand the deeper meaning behind Yogi Adityanath’s ‘batenge to katenge’ call. We’ll help them understand,” he added.
Regarding Pankaja Munde, he said that he has spoken to her and she explained to him that she just wanted to project the work done by the Mahayuti government than to speak about the slogans and divisive forces in the society.
This is another chapter in the feud between Fadnavis and Pankaja which is going on since a decade when the former became the Chief Minister in 2014. When they were in the same government there was a public war of words between them over Twitter. Off late, Pankaja had announced that she was fighting a ‘Dharma Yuddha’ within the party. Without naming Fadnavis she had equated him with Kauravas who had ill-intension towards their cousins, the Pandavas.
Fadnavis also said that the slogans are very much relevant since the OBCs comprise of 350 castes while the STs comprise of 54 castes and the BJP has been appealing all these communities to stay united.
A senior RSS leader, who doesn’t want to be named, said that the slogans have effectively countered the narrative created by the Congress during Lok Sabha polls. “It is probably due to this that attempts are being made to create confusion over the slogans,” he added.
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