Mr. Gadkari explained that “batenge to katenge,” the political slogan that some senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, including its president, Amit Shah, have been using in the run-up to the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections, signifies unity, not division. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Mr. Gadkari explained that this is the BJP’s slogan of rising above sectarian divides of religion and language: “We are all Indians. united in the fight against terrorism.”. This is not a collective idea, nor is it aimed at any minority community.”
Gadkari blamed the Congress party for creating a “false narrative” ahead of the April-June federal elections that, if the BJP won more than 400 Lok Sabha seats, with the tag “abki baar, 400 paar,” it had plans to rewrite the Constitution.
The slogan first gained attention in August when Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath linked it to tensions in Bangladesh, accusing the opposition of prioritizing Muslim votes over concerns for Hindu minorities. Immediately after uttering these words, “batenge to katenge, ek rahenge to nek rahenge”, opposition parties and some within the BJP spoke up against him, including Pankaja Munde and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, both of whom immediately disowned the comments.
Pawar termed the slogan “inappropriate for the land of saints and followers of Shiva”, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his faction of Shiv Sena are worried about minority votes consolidating for the opposition by this slogan. Amidst criticism, the slogan was rewritten as “ek ho to safe hain” and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis explained that the detractors have not understood the meaning of the slogan.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge challenged voters to choose between the “divisive” slogan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message of unity.
Gadkari further refuted the charge that the BJP was planning to change the Constitution, accusing the Congress of being responsible for earlier amendments, especially during the Emergency. “If anybody has tampered with the Constitution, it is the Congress,” he said, alluding to the amendments made after the Allahabad High Court had declared former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s election null and void.
With regard to the fraud in cryptocurrency against NCP leader Supriya Sule, Gadkari minimised the controversy to say that the people of this country would vote on governance and performance, not by any controversy. Sule had rejected these charges, even challenging BJP for a public debate apart from filing complaints before the Election Commission and other local authorities.
On who the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra would be, Gadkari said that would be decided by the top leadership of the BJP after the results. Voting is currently underway in Maharashtra, with results for all 288 seats expected on Saturday, along with those for 81 seats in Jharkhand and various by-elections across the country.
