Fadnavis defends Yogi Adityanath’s comments 

shrinivas.deshpande@htlive.com 

Amid mounting controversy over the “Batenge to Katenge” slogan, which was coined by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stepped in to defend it, claiming that there is “nothing wrong” with it. 

The slogan, which roughly translates to ‘Divided, we will be destroyed’, has stirred a political debate after being adopted by BJP officials in Maharashtra for the current election campaign. While it gained traction among some sections of the party, the phrase has drawn criticism from multiple quarters. 

Fadnavis 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, and 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 said in an interview with ANI. 

Alliance partner, NCP leader Ajit Pawar was one of the first to voice his displeasure, dismissing the slogan as a “crude and divisive” message. He criticized it for being more focused on victory than on addressing the issues that matter to the common people of Maharashtra. “This kind of slogan has no place in Maharashtra. It only aims to create division and hatred,” Pawar had stated earlier. 

Within the BJP itself, there have been some pushbacks as well. Senior party leaders like Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Pankaja Munde and Ashok Chavan expressed reservations about the slogan, calling it unnecessary and potentially counterproductive in Maharashtra’s more nuanced political landscape. Vikhe-Patil, a prominent BJP leader from the state, suggested that slogans of this nature might not resonate with the people of Maharashtra, who are more focused on governance and development rather than rhetoric. 

In an interview with a TV channel, 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 secular. There is no real secularism among those who call themselves secular,” Fadnavis said. 

He elaborated that the slogan was a rallying cry for unity and resilience, echoing the struggles faced by India in its past.  

The controversy has added fuel to the already charged political atmosphere in Maharashtra, with both the BJP and opposition parties, including the NCP SP and Shiv Sena UBT, gearing up for a fierce battle in the assembly elections. 

-With agency inputs