The slogan ‘batenge toh katenge (divided we will be destroyed)’ used by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during the Maharashtra election campaign has sparked a political row. After ally Ajit Pawar, now BJP leader Pankaja Munde has come out against the slogan.

BJP MLA Munde, in an interview with Indian Express, said, “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 their own. Therefore, we need not bring any such topic to Maharashtra.”

“He said it in a different context and in the political situation of that land (Adityanath first used the slogan in UP). The meaning of that is not what we are using in Maharashtra. Modiji has given justice to everyone. He did not see caste or religion when he gave rations, housing or cylinders to people,” she added.

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In Maharashtra, Yogi Adityanath used the ‘batenge toh katenge’ slogan, earlier used in UP, at a poll rally recently. Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself been using the slogan “Ek hain toh safe hain (Together, we are safe)” which, rivals have said, is just another way of saying the same thing.

Ajit Pawar on Tuesday supported PM Modi’s slogan, but opposed Adityanath’s refrain ‘batenge to katenge’, terming it alien to Maharashtra’s ideological heritage.

“The remark ‘batenge to katenge’ is inappropriate. People’s thinking in UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh is different, but such statements don’t work here. Using such words holds no significance in Maharashtra, in my opinion. Maharashtra is the state of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Shivaji Maharaj. People of Maharashtra are different, and they think differently. If anyone leaves the ideology of Shahu, Shivaji, Phule and Ambedkar, then Maharashtra will not spare them,” Ajit added, PTI reported.

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NCP leader and candidate Nawab Malik has also said that the BJP’s promise of an anti-conversion law in its manifesto was not on Mahayuti’s agenda.

The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly is going to polls in a single phase on November 20. The counting of votes will be carried out on November 23 and the results will be declared subsequently.

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