‘Batenge toh katenge’ vs ‘daroge toh maroge’: The slogan war in Maharashtra, Jharkhand | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The election campaign for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand has been intense, high-octane and full of attacks on the opposing parties.
When the election manifesto 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 selection of candidates, filing of nominations and, more importantly, for the campaign.
Maharashtra, with 288 seats, will vote in one phase on November 20 and Jharkhand with 81 seats in two phases, with 43 constituencies on November 13 and 38 constituencies on November 20.
However, the period of 35 days was more than enough for the political parties to come up with slogans of high recall value, which were repeated at high decibels during campaign rallies in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

‘Batenge toh katenge’

There is no point in guessing that the slogan ‘batenge, katenge’ (divided we die) tops this list. This pithy three-word slogan, which was first used by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a rallying cry to Hindus to unite amid the atrocities faced by the community in Bangladesh, became the talking point in the political landscape.
As a top 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 specifically attack the Congress, accusing it of dividing the country on the basis of caste.
While the Opposition tried to hit back at the BJP and accused the slogan of having communal undertones, several BJP leaders have countered this saying the slogan is a call for unity.
However, the ‘batenge’ slogan eventually led to division between the BJP and the Mahayuti alliance as some prominent leaders rejected Yogi Adityanath’s call.
Interestingly, the two ‘rebel leaders’ Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, who divided the NCP and Shiv Sena, are fighting the Maharashtra elections along with the BJP as part of the Mahayuti.

BJP MP and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan opposed the slogan, saying it was not in good taste.
Pankaja Munde, daughter of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, also rejected the slogan and said her “politics is different”.
However, the biggest opposition came from BJP’s newest ally in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, who did not shy away from repeatedly speaking out against the slogan.
Expressing his displeasure over the slogan, Ajit Pawar said, “We immediately said this is not Uttar Pradesh, it should be done in the north, not in our Maharashtra.”
As his open disapproval led to reports of discord within the Mahayuti, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis downplayed Pawar’s differences saying he will take time to understand the mood of the public as he has been around people for whom it has been a long time opposition to Hindutva is secularism.

‘Ek hello toh safe hi’

As Yogi Adityanath’s ‘batenge toh katenge’ slogan gained momentum and the opposition tried to corner the BJP over its communal overtones, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with ‘Ek hai toh safe hai’ (United we are safe).
With a positive narrative, Prime Minister Modi’s slogan tried to give a positive spin to UP CM’s ‘batenge, katenge’ narrative.
Prime Minister Modi, who never used the ‘batenge’ call himself, relied on the ‘ek hai’ war cry to attack the opposition. Prime Minister Modi mainly used it to attack the Congress, accusing it of creating a caste divide in the country.
When the Congress called for a national caste census, Prime Minister Modi took the opportunity to accuse the party of trying to divide society by pitting the Other Backward Class (OBC) sub-groups against each other. Addressing rallies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Prime Minister Modi called for a united front for the underprivileged castes with his slogan: ‘ek hai toh safe hai’.
The opposition refuted Prime Minister Modi’s slogan by accusing the BJP of dividing the nation to gain power.
“He (PM Modi) is saying ‘ek hai toh safe hai’, UP CM Yogi Adityanath is ‘batenge toh katenge’. Let them (BJP) decide which slogan will prevail. We kept the country safe. Now people are going to ‘Break the country and that is why such language is used. If they had worked by bringing everyone together like the Congress, then such things would not have come to the fore said Mallikarjun Kharge.

Congress counters with ‘daroge toh maroge’

The grand old party tried to counter the BJP’s ‘benefit’ appeal during the elections with ‘daroge toh maroge’ (will die if you get scared). However, the slogan was too late and too less.
The Congress has taken a cue from Rahul Gandhi’s ‘don’t be afraid’ remark, which the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has been using in recent times as a message to the common people to deal with the so-called ‘atmosphere of fear’ of the BJP.
The slogan was used by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Jharkhand when he accused the BJP of divisive politics and fear mongering. “Yogi-ji visited here a few days ago. He is the head of a ‘math’ and wears a dress donned by sadhus. But sadhus must be compassionate and unite people to protect humanity. However, he said, ‘Batoge toh katoge’. You must now understand that ‘daroge toh maroge’,” he said.

‘Roti, beti aur mati’

BJP led by Prime Minister Modi summed up the fight against the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand as a fight to save ‘roti, beti, aur mati’ (food, daughter and land).
In an attempt to strike a chord with the tribal population, the 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 focused its Jharkhand election campaign on employment (roti), the issue of infiltrators allegedly marrying tribal women and acquiring land (beti), and land degradation (mati). ).
In addition, some other old slogans were used in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.
As MVA allies found it difficult to come up with the seat-sharing plan, Sena’s (UBT) Sanjay Raut had jokingly adopted Prime Minister Modi’s earlier campaign and said that the MVA needed the slogan ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh also launched a campaign called ‘Sajag Raho‘ in poll-bound Maharashtra. The ‘Sajag Raho – Be Vigilant, Be Awake’ campaign, which aimed to strengthen the BJP’s pressure in the polls, was in line with the ‘batenge’ and ‘ek hai’ calls of Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Modi .