NEW DELHI: The election campaign for Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections has been intense, high-profile and full of attacks on the opposition parties.
When the election schedule was announced on October 15, the opposition in Maharashtra had complained to the Election Commission that the 35-day period for the assembly election process was shorter than usual for candidate selection, nomination filing and more importantly, for campaigning.
Maharashtra, with 288 assembly seats, voted in phase one on November 20 and Jharkhand with 81 seats in two phases, with 43 constituencies on November 13 and 38 constituencies on November 20.
However, 35 days is more than enough time for a political party to come up with slogans with high recall value that are repeated at high decibels during campaign rallies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
‘His body is still there’
There is no point in thinking that ‘batenge, tengege’ (divided by us perish) features slogans at the top of this list. This dry three-word slogan, first used by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a warcry for Hindus to unite amid the atrocities faced by the people in Bangladesh, has become a talking point in the political landscape.
As a star campaigner, Yogi Adityanath used the slogan to attack the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and the Hemant Soren-led JMM in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The Uttar Pradesh CM used this to attack the Congress specifically who were accused of dividing the state on caste lines.
Although the opposition tried to counter the BJP by alleging that the slogan had communal overtones, some BJP leaders denied that the slogan was a call for unity.
However, the ‘batenge’ slogan ended up splitting the BJP and Mahayuti alliance as some important leaders rejected Yogi Adityanath’s call.
Interestingly, two ‘rebel’ leaders Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, who split the NCP and Shiv Sena, are contesting the Maharashtra elections as part of the Mahayuti with the BJP.
Maharashtra polls
BJP MP and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan opposed the slogan saying it was in bad taste.
Pankaja Munde, daughter of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, also rejected the slogan that she was “politically different”.
However, the biggest opposition has come from the BJP’s newest ally in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, who has not shyed away from opposing the slogan on several occasions.
Expressing his displeasure with the slogan Ajit Pawar said, “We immediately said that this is not Uttar Pradesh, it should be in the north, not in our Maharashtra.”
As the open disagreement led to reports of dissent in Mahayuti, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis disagreed with Pawar who said he needed time to understand the public mood as he had been with people who opposed Hindutva ie secularism for a long time.
‘Hey be safe’
As Yogi Adityanath’s slogan ‘batenge toh tegene’ gained momentum and the opposition tried to mock the BJP for its communal tone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined ‘Ek hai toh safe hai’ (United we are safe).
With a positive narrative, PM Modi’s slogan is trying to give a positive spin to the UP CM’s ‘batenge, tagenge’ narrative.
PM Modi, who never used his ‘batenge’ phone, relied on the warcry ‘ek hai’ to attack the opposition. PM Modi used it mainly to attack Congress while accusing them of creating caste divide in the country.
When the Congress called for a national caste census, PM Modi used the opportunity to accuse the party of trying to divide society by fighting the Other Backward Class (OBC) subgroup. During rallies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, PM Modi called for unity for the disadvantaged castes with the slogan — ‘ek hai toh safe hai’.
The opposition countered PM Modi’s slogan by accusing the BJP of dividing the country’s power.
“He (PM Modi) said ‘ek hai toh safe hai’, UP CM Yogi Adityanath ‘batenge toh tegene’. Let them (BJP) decide what slogan they will follow. We have kept the country safe. Now people have come to destroy the country and that’s why the language is used that he works with everyone like the Congress, so the goal is to achieve unity and try to show your dominance,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Congress countered with ‘daroge toh maroge’
The grand old party tried to counter BJP’s ‘batenge’ call with ‘daroge toh maroge’ (will die if scared) during elections. However, the slogan is too late and lacking.
The Congress took its cue from Rahul Gandhi’s “don’t be afraid” comment that the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha has used in recent times as a message to the common man to overcome the “atmosphere of fear” alleged by the BJP.
The slogan was used by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Jharkhand when he accused the BJP of divisive and fearful politics. “Yogi-ji visited here a few days ago. He is the head of the ‘math’ and wears the clothes worn by sadhus. But sadhus must be compassionate and unite people to preserve humanity. But, he said, ‘Batoge toh katoge’. You now have to understand that ‘daroge toh maroge’,” he said.
‘Bread, beti aur die’
PM Modi-led BJP has summed up the contest against Hemant Soren’s government in Jharkhand as a battle to save ‘roti, beti, aur mati’ (food, daughter and land).
Trying to attack the tribal population, BJP used this slogan to accuse JMM and Congress of allowing infiltrators in the state to vote.
In what appears to be an extension of Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Ma, maati, manush’, the BJP is focusing its Jharkhand election campaign on employment (roti), the issue of infiltrators allegedly marrying tribal women and acquiring land (beti), and land encroachment (mati). . ).
Apart from this, some other old slogans are also used during assembly elections.
As MVA allies find it difficult to come up with a seat-sharing plan, Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut jokingly took it from PM Modi’s previous campaign and said that MVA needs a ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ slogan.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh also launched a campaign called ‘Sajag Raho‘ in Maharashtra where polls are held. The ‘Sajag Raho – be alert, alert’ campaign, which seeks to increase the BJP’s push in the assembly polls, is in line with the ‘batenge’ and ‘ek hai’ calls of Yogi Adityanath and PM Modi.
