Ashok Chavan, Pankaja Munde, CM Yogi and Devendra Fadnavis
In the changing political environment of Maharashtra, the BJP has created strong political chemistry with the party of Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar to defeat the Congress trio of Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. The BJP was trying to win the Maharashtra elections with CM Yogi’s slogan ‘Bantege to Katenge’, it got support from top leaders of the party and the RSS. With this slogan, the BJP is trying to keep the electoral momentum in its favour, but not only NDA ally Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra but also the Maharashtra BJP leaders are “divided”.
Yogi Adityanath’s slogan ‘Diya Bantenge to Katenge’ in reference to Bangladesh was a hit for the BJP in the Haryana elections. Along with the UP by-elections, the political atmosphere in Jharkhand and Maharashtra is also resonating. The BJP is trying to unite Hindus scattered across castes by establishing this narrative, but BJP leaders and their allies in Maharashtra do not like it. Allies have distanced themselves from Yogi’s claim that if we divide, we will be divided.
If we divide, we will be divided, but there is a gap in the NDA
While Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis have gone head to head, Eknath Shinde’s camp is also staying away from it. Not only this, BJP leaders Pankaja Munde and Ashok Chavan have raised questions about ‘If we divide, we will cut’. The JDU, an ally of the BJP in Bihar, has already distanced itself from the BJP. In this way, the BJP-led NDA seems to be completely divided over ‘Bantenge to Katenge’, because Ajit has described this slogan as different from the ideological heritage of Maharashtra.
NCP chief Ajit Pawar opposed CM Yogi’s slogan and said Maharashtra never accepted communal division. People’s thinking is different in UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, but such statements do not work in Maharashtra. In my opinion, the use of such words does not matter in Maharashtra, because the people of Maharashtra have followed the secular ideology of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Our motto is the support of everyone and the development of everyone. If anyone deviates from the ideology of Shahuji, Shivaji, Phule and Ambedkar, Maharashtra will not forgive him.
Eknath Shinde was also seen joining Ajit Pawar’s voice and said that this kind of politics cannot happen in Maharashtra. Our party will go to the elections based on the development work and public welfare schemes carried out in the last two and a half years. In democracy, we will vote together and we will vote as much as possible. Shinde camp spokesperson Sushil Vyas says they are with PM Modi’s motto of Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas.
BJP leaders are also divided over ‘If you divide, you will be cut’
The BJP has also been divided over Yogi Adityanath’s slogan: “If we divide, we will cut.” While Devendra Fadnavis completely supports the narrative of ‘Binte to Katenge’, Pankaja Munde and Ashok Chavan have different voices. BJP MP and former CM Ashok Chavan has said that the slogan ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ is not correct and people of the state will not appreciate it. Personally I am not in favor of this type of slogans. He said that he does not give importance to rhetoric like ‘Vote Jihad vs Dharma Yudh’, because the policy of the BJP and the ruling Mahayuti is the development of the country and Maharashtra.
Pankaja Munde, a veteran BJP leader from Maharashtra and considered the face of the OBC party, has also opposed the ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ slogan. Pankaja says he does not support this slogan and Maharashtra does not need this kind of policy. Pankaja Munde said: ‘To tell the truth, my politics are different. I will not support it just because I am from the same party, I believe that we should work for development and fight in elections on the same issue. He said that the job of a leader is to make every person alive on this earth his own. Therefore, we do not need to bring that issue to Maharashtra.
At the same time, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said his party’s slogan ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ was coined in response to the Mahavikas Aghadi election campaign. Fadnavis raised questions about his party and ally Ajit, saying his colleagues Ashok Chavan and Pankaja Munde, as well as Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, did not understand its basic meaning. Devendra Fadnavis has also said that for decades Ajit Pawar lived with secular and anti-Hindu ideologies. Having lived with people for whom opposing Hindutva is secularism, it will take some time for Ajit to understand the mood of the BJP and the public. These people could not understand the public sentiment or could not understand the meaning of this statement.
Why does the NDA seem divided?
Efforts are being made to become the Alexander of Maharashtra of politics. On one hand, BJP-led Mahayuti is desperate to retain power, while on the other hand, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi is trying hard to change the situation. Cost politics has increased the BJP’s political tension in Maharashtra. The Maratha reservation movement had dealt a heavy blow to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections due to which its seats were reduced from 21 to 8. In such a situation, the BJP is executing a strategy to counter cost politics through Yogi’s motto ‘Bantenge to Katenge’.
Under this strategy, the BJP is trying to completely set up the narrative of ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ to unite the Hindus of Maharashtra, thereby trying to change the political atmosphere in its favour, but neither Ajit Pawar nor Eknath Shinde are using this slogan. . They are adopting divisive slogans because both parties feel that because of this their Muslim voters will turn away from them. From Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to Ajit Pawar, they do not want politics in Maharashtra to be based on the line of “If we divide, we will cut”.
Ashok Chavan joined the BJP in February this year after being associated with the Congress for a long time. After joining the BJP, the party gave him a Rajya Sabha ticket and the party gave his daughter a ticket for the assembly elections. Ashok Chavan is considered a great leader of the Maratha community in Maharashtra and also has his own political influence in Marathwada. Pankaja Munde is the daughter of veteran BJP leader Gopinath Munde and is considered the party’s OBC face in Maharashtra. Pankaja Munde lost the Assembly elections in 2019 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and is now a member of the Legislative Council.
Political feud between Pankaja and Fadnavis
The political enmity between Pankaja Munde and Devendra Fadnavis is well known. Pankaja had blamed Fadnavis for the 2019 defeat. In 2014, when the BJP returned to power in Maharashtra, Pankaja Munde was also considered in the race for CM, but the party had handed over the reins of power to Devendra Fadnavis, who hails from the Brahmin community. Since then, the political feud has continued. Now, in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP plans to return to power with majority, then Fadnavis is considered as the CM’s contender.
Political analysts believe that the Maratha society does not want to agree with Devendra Fadnavis under any circumstances. In 2019, when there was an attempt to make Fadnavis CM, Maratha leaders came together. Due to the atmosphere created by his candidature in these elections, his allies Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde are staying away from this politics under the pretext of the slogan “Batenge to Katenge”. Questions have been raised about the “Batenge to Katenge” slogan. Not only this, the Maratha leaders of the BJP and OBC have created a dilemma by raising questions.
