Ashok Chavan, Pankaja Munde, CM Yogi and Devendra Fadnavis
Amid the changing political environment in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party clashes with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar-led parties Chemistry, defeating Congress trio Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. The BJP is trying to win the Maharashtra elections on the slogan of CM Yogi “Bantege to Katenge” and has the support of senior party leaders and the RSS. The BJP tried to maintain the electoral momentum in its favor through this slogan, but not only Maharashtra’s NDA ally Ajit Pawar; People also experienced “splits”.
Yogi Adityanath’s slogan “Diyabantenga to Katenga” involving Bengal was popular with the BJP in the Haryana elections. With the UP by-elections, the political mood is also resonating in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The BJP is trying to use this narrative to unite Hindus scattered across castes, but it is not liked by BJP leaders and allies in Maharashtra. Allies have distanced themselves from Yogi’s statement that if we are divided, we will be divided.
If we divide, we will divide, but there are cracks in the NDA
While Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis come face to face, the Eknath Shinde camp also maintains distance. Not only this, BJP leaders Pankaj Munde and Ashok Chavan also raised the issue of “if we are divided, we will cut spending”. The JDU, the BJP’s ally in Bihar, has distanced itself from it. It seems, then, that the BJP-led NDA is completely divided on ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ as Ajit describes the slogan as being alien to Maharashtra’s ideological legacy.
NCP president Ajit Pawar opposed CM Yogi’s slogans and said Maharashtra has never accepted communal divisions. In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, people think differently, but this argument does not work in Maharashtra. In my opinion, the use of these words is not important in Maharashtra because the people of Maharashtra follow Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule and the secular ideology of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Our slogan is everyone’s support and everyone’s development. If anyone deviates from the ideologies of Shahuji, Shivaji, Phule and Ambedkar, Maharashtra will not spare him.
Eknath Shinde also joined Ajit Pawar and said this kind of politics cannot happen in Maharashtra. Our party will conduct elections based on the development work and public welfare programs of the past two and a half years. In a democracy we will vote together and as many people as possible. Shinde camp spokesperson Sushil Vyas said they support Prime Minister Modi’s slogans of Sabuka Saas and Sabuka Vikas.
BJP leaders also divided on ‘If divided, they will be eliminated’
The BJP is also divided over Yogi Adityanath’s slogan “If we divide, we cut”. Devendra Fadnavis fully supports the narrative from bante to katenge, while Pankaja Munde and Ashok Chavan have different voices. Bharatiya Janata Party MP and former chief minister Ashok Chavan said the slogan “Bantenge to Katenge” is incorrect and the people of the state will not appreciate it. Personally, I don’t agree with such a slogan. He said he did not give importance to remarks like “vote jihad and dhamayud” as the policies of the BJP and the ruling Mahayutthi were for the development of the country and Maharashtra.
Senior Maharashtra BJP leader Pankaja Munde, considered the party’s OBC face, also opposed the “Bantenge to Katenge” slogan. Pankajja said she did not support the slogan and Maharashtra did not need such politics. Pankaj Munde said: “To be honest, my political views are different. I will not support it just because I am of the same party, I think we should work on the same issues for development and fight for elections.” He said the leader It is our duty to make every living person in this land his own, so we don’t need to bring such topics to Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said the party’s slogan “Bantenge to Katenge” was in response to Mahavikas Aghadi ) campaign. Fadnavis raised questions about his party and ally Ajit, saying his colleagues Ashok Chavan and Pankaja Munde and deputy chief minister Ajit Pa Ajit Pawar failed to understand its basic meaning. Devendra Fadnavis also said that Ajit Pawar had been living with secular and anti-Hindu ideologies for decades. Ajit, who had lived among these people who were against Hindutva as secularism, needed some time to understand the mood of the BJP and the public. These people either cannot understand public opinion or cannot understand the meaning of this sentence.
Why do NDAs seem to be divided?
Efforts are being made to become the Alexander of Maharashtra politics. On one hand, the BJP-led Mahayutthir is desperate to retain power, while on the other, the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi is trying to turn things around. Cost politics has heightened political tensions for the BJP in Maharashtra. The Maratha reservation movement dealt a blow to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, reducing its seat count from 21 to eight. In this context, the BJP is pursuing a strategy to counter cost politics through Yogi’s “Bantenge to Katenge” slogan.
Under this strategy, the BJP tried to completely set the narrative of “Bantanga to Katenga” to unite the Hindus in Maharashtra and thereby reverse the political atmosphere, but Ajit Pa Neither Val nor Eknath Shinde used this slogan. They are adopting divisive slogans because both sides believe their Muslim voters will turn away from them. From Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to Ajit Pawar, they don’t want Maharashtra politics to be based on ‘if we divide, we cut’ on the basis of.
Ashok Chavan joined the BJP in February this year after having a long association with the Congress party. After joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party gave him a ticket for the federal assembly and also gave his daughter a ticket for the assembly elections. Ashok Chavan is considered an important leader of the Maratha community in Maharashtra and he also has his own political clout in Marathwada. Pankaja Munde is the daughter of veteran BJP leader Gopinath Munde and is considered the party’s OBC representative in Maharashtra. Pankaja Munde lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and is currently a member of the Legislative Council.
Political animosity between Pankaj and Fadnavis
The political animosity between Pankaja Munde and Devendra Fadnavis is well known. Pankaja blamed Fadnavis for the 2019 defeat. In 2014, when the BJP came back to power in Maharashtra, Pankaj Munde was also considering contesting as CM, but the party had handed over the command of power to a Dev from the Brahmin community. Devendra Fadnavis. Political animosity has persisted ever since. Now in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the BJP plans to return to power with a majority and then Fadnavis is seen as the chief candidate.
Political analysts believe that the Maratha society does not want to agree with Devendra Fadnavis under any circumstances. In 2019, Maratha leaders rallied when attempts were made to make Fadnavis the chief minister. Due to the atmosphere created for their candidates in this election, their allies Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde are staying away from this politics using the slogan of “Batenge to Katenge” . Questions have been raised about the slogan “Batenger to Katenge”. Not only this, the Maratha and OBC leaders of the BJP also created a dilemma by raising questions.
