Maharashtra elections 2024: After Ajit Pawar objected to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s clarion call for unity among Hindus with the slogan ‘batenge to katenge’, his counterpart Devendra Fadnavis defended Pawar’s opposition and said that “he was with anti-Hindu ideologies, it will take him time”.
Yogi Adityanath’s slogan has left the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra divided with certain BJP leaders and allies objecting to it.
During an interview with ANI, Devendra Fadnavis said, “For decades, Ajit Pawar has stayed with such ideologies which are secular and anti-Hindu. There is no real secularism amongst those who call themselves secularists. He has stayed with people for whom opposing Hindutva is secularism. There is no real secularism among those who call themselves secular.”
“It will take some time for him to understand the mood of the public. These people either did not understand the sentiments of the public or did not understand the statement or they probably wanted to say something else,” he added.
Fadnavis also said that there was nothing wrong with the slogan given by Yogi Adityanath and stated that it had been the history of the country.
“I don’t see anything wrong in Yogi ji’s slogans. Look at the history of this country. Jab Jab bate hai tab gulam bane hai. Whenever this country was divided into castes, states, divided into communities society we became slaves. The country was also divided, and so were the people. That’s why if we divide, we will be cut. This is the history of this country,” Fadnavis told ANI.
“And I don’t understand that if someone says don’t divide, then what is the point of objecting to this?” he added.
Ajit Pawar opposes slogan
Earlier, Ajit Pawar had remarked that there is no place for the “batenge toh katenge” slogan in Maharashtra as the state works on the principles of BR Ambedkar, upsetting his ally BJP ahead of the crucial Maharashtra assembly election.
Once again on Friday, Ajit Pawar – the nephew of Sharad Pawar – maintained his stand over the “batenge toh katenge” slogan, saying that he would not support such ideas.
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“We all have opposed it. Someone told me that BJP’s Pankaja Munde has also opposed this slogan. A CM of a state comes here and says “batenge toh katenge”, immediately we said such slogans will not work here as Maharashtra works on the principles of Ambedkar…I don’t know what is Devendra ji’s answer to this but we don’t like this ‘katenge, batenge’,” Pawar reiterated, ANI reported.
Interestingly, not just ally NCP, but some of the high-profile Maharashtra BJP leaders have also maintained distance from the slogan, claiming that the party must avoid divisive rhetoric.
Pankaja Munde, daughter of the late BJP veteran Gopinath Munde, said, “My politics is different. I won’t support this just because I belong to the party. We need to focus on development and work towards uniting every individual in Maharashtra.”
Ashok Chavan, who joined the BJP from the Congress earlier this year, echoed a similar voice of Munde. “Slogans like this have no relevance in Maharashtra and are not in good taste. Personally, I do not support it,” Chavan was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
(With inputs from agencies)