NEW DELHI: The election campaign for Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections has been intense, high-pitched and full of attacks on the opposing 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 candidates selection, filing nominations and more importantly, for the campaign.
Maharashtra, with 288 assembly seats, is voting in a single phase on November 20 and Jharkhand with 81 seats in two phases, with 43 constituencies on November 13 and 38 constituencies on November 20.
The 35-day period, however, was more than enough for the political parties to come up with slogans with high recall value which were repeated at high decibels during campaign rallies in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
'Batenge toh katenge'
There's no point in guessing that 'batenge, katenge' (divided we perish) slogan features at the top of this list. This crisp three-word slogan, first used by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a warcry for Hindus to unite amid atrocities being faced by the community in Bangladesh, became the talking point in the political landscape.
As a star campaigner, Yogi Adityanath used the slogan to attack Congress , Uddhav Thackeray's Sena, Sharad Pawar's NCP and Hemant Soren-led JMM in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The Uttar Pradesh CM used this to specifically attack Congress accusing it of dividing the country by caste.
Though the opposition tried to hit back at BJP accusing that the slogan carried a communal undertone, several BJP leaders countered it saying the slogan is a call for unity.
However, the 'batenge' slogan eventually ended up dividing the BJP and 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 Maharashtra elections as part of the Mahayuti with BJP.
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 saying her "politics is different".
The biggest opposition, however, came from BJP's newest ally in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, who did not shy away from speaking against the slogan on several occasions.
Expressing his displeasure with the slogan Ajit Pawar said, "We immediately said that this is not Uttar Pradesh, it must be going on in the North, not in our Maharashtra."
As his open disapproval led to reports of disagreement within the Mahayuti, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis underplayed Pawar's disagreement saying he will take time to understand the mood of the public as he has for a long stayed with people for whom opposing Hindutva is secularism.
'Ek hi toh safe hai'
As Yogi Adityanath's 'batenge toh katenge' slogan gained momentum and opposition tried to corner BJP for its communal undertone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with 'Ek hai toh safe hai' (United we are safe).
With a positive narrative, PM Modi 's slogan tried to give a positive spin to UP CM's 'batenge, katenge' narrative.
PM Modi, who never himself used 'batenge' call, relied on the 'ek hai' warcry to attack the opposition. PM Modi used it to particularly attack Congress while accusing it of creating a caste divide in the country.
As Congress called for a national caste census, PM Modi used the opportunity to accuse the party of trying to divide the society by pitting the subgroups of the Other Backward Class (OBC) against each other. During rallies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, PM Modi called out for a united front for the underprivileged castes with his slogan -- 'ek hai toh safe hai'.
The opposition countered PM Modi's slogan by accusing the BJP of dividing the nation for 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 run. We have kept the country safe. Now people have come to break the country and that is why such a language is being used. If they worked by taking everyone together like Congress, then such things would not have come up. Their intention is to finish unity and try to show your dominance," Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Congress counters with 'daroge toh maroge'
The grand old party tried to counter BJP's 'batenge' call with 'daroge toh maroge' (Will die if you get scared) during the elections. The slogan, however, was too late and too less.
Congress took a cue from Rahul Gandhi 's 'don't be afraid' remark which the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha has used in recent times as a message to common people to deal with BJP's alleged 'atmosphere of fear'.
The slogan was used by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Jharkhand as he accused 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 safeguard humanity. However, he said, ‘Batoge toh katoge’. You must now understand that ‘daroge toh maroge’,” he said.
'Roti, beti aur mati'
BJP led by PM Modi summed up the contest against Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand as a fight to save 'roti, beti, aur mati' (food, daughter and land).
Trying to strike a chord with tribal population, BJP used this slogan to accuse JMM and Congress of allowing infiltrators in the state for votes.
In what seems to be an extension of Mamata Banerjee's 'Ma, maati, manush', BJP focussed its Jharkhand election campaign on employment (roti), the issue of infiltrators allegedly marrying tribal women and acquiring land (beti), and land encroachment (mati).
Other than these, a few other old slogans were also used in the run-up to assembly elections.
As the MVA allies were finding it difficult to come up with the seat-sharing plan, Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut in jest had taken from PM Modi's earlier campaign and said that the MVA needed 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' slogan.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh also launched a campaign called ' Sajag Raho ' in poll-bound Maharashtra. The ‘Sajag Raho - be vigilant, be awake’ campaign, which looked to bolster BJP's push in the assembly polls, was in line with Yogi Adityanath and PM Modi's 'batenge' and 'ek hai' calls.
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 candidates selection, filing nominations and more importantly, for the campaign.
Maharashtra, with 288 assembly seats, is voting in a single phase on November 20 and Jharkhand with 81 seats in two phases, with 43 constituencies on November 13 and 38 constituencies on November 20.
The 35-day period, however, was more than enough for the political parties to come up with slogans with high recall value which were repeated at high decibels during campaign rallies in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
'Batenge toh katenge'
There's no point in guessing that 'batenge, katenge' (divided we perish) slogan features at the top of this list. This crisp three-word slogan, first used by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a warcry for Hindus to unite amid atrocities being faced by the community in Bangladesh, became the talking point in the political landscape.
As a star campaigner, Yogi Adityanath used the slogan to attack Congress , Uddhav Thackeray's Sena, Sharad Pawar's NCP and Hemant Soren-led JMM in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The Uttar Pradesh CM used this to specifically attack Congress accusing it of dividing the country by caste.
Though the opposition tried to hit back at BJP accusing that the slogan carried a communal undertone, several BJP leaders countered it saying the slogan is a call for unity.
However, the 'batenge' slogan eventually ended up dividing the BJP and 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 Maharashtra elections as part of the Mahayuti with BJP.
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 saying her "politics is different".
The biggest opposition, however, came from BJP's newest ally in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, who did not shy away from speaking against the slogan on several occasions.
Expressing his displeasure with the slogan Ajit Pawar said, "We immediately said that this is not Uttar Pradesh, it must be going on in the North, not in our Maharashtra."
As his open disapproval led to reports of disagreement within the Mahayuti, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis underplayed Pawar's disagreement saying he will take time to understand the mood of the public as he has for a long stayed with people for whom opposing Hindutva is secularism.
'Ek hi toh safe hai'
As Yogi Adityanath's 'batenge toh katenge' slogan gained momentum and opposition tried to corner BJP for its communal undertone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with 'Ek hai toh safe hai' (United we are safe).
With a positive narrative, PM Modi 's slogan tried to give a positive spin to UP CM's 'batenge, katenge' narrative.
PM Modi, who never himself used 'batenge' call, relied on the 'ek hai' warcry to attack the opposition. PM Modi used it to particularly attack Congress while accusing it of creating a caste divide in the country.
As Congress called for a national caste census, PM Modi used the opportunity to accuse the party of trying to divide the society by pitting the subgroups of the Other Backward Class (OBC) against each other. During rallies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, PM Modi called out for a united front for the underprivileged castes with his slogan -- 'ek hai toh safe hai'.
The opposition countered PM Modi's slogan by accusing the BJP of dividing the nation for 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 run. We have kept the country safe. Now people have come to break the country and that is why such a language is being used. If they worked by taking everyone together like Congress, then such things would not have come up. Their intention is to finish unity and try to show your dominance," Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Congress counters with 'daroge toh maroge'
The grand old party tried to counter BJP's 'batenge' call with 'daroge toh maroge' (Will die if you get scared) during the elections. The slogan, however, was too late and too less.
Congress took a cue from Rahul Gandhi 's 'don't be afraid' remark which the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha has used in recent times as a message to common people to deal with BJP's alleged 'atmosphere of fear'.
The slogan was used by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Jharkhand as he accused 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 safeguard humanity. However, he said, ‘Batoge toh katoge’. You must now understand that ‘daroge toh maroge’,” he said.
'Roti, beti aur mati'
BJP led by PM Modi summed up the contest against Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand as a fight to save 'roti, beti, aur mati' (food, daughter and land).
Trying to strike a chord with tribal population, BJP used this slogan to accuse JMM and Congress of allowing infiltrators in the state for votes.
In what seems to be an extension of Mamata Banerjee's 'Ma, maati, manush', BJP focussed its Jharkhand election campaign on employment (roti), the issue of infiltrators allegedly marrying tribal women and acquiring land (beti), and land encroachment (mati).
Other than these, a few other old slogans were also used in the run-up to assembly elections.
As the MVA allies were finding it difficult to come up with the seat-sharing plan, Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut in jest had taken from PM Modi's earlier campaign and said that the MVA needed 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' slogan.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh also launched a campaign called ' Sajag Raho ' in poll-bound Maharashtra. The ‘Sajag Raho - be vigilant, be awake’ campaign, which looked to bolster BJP's push in the assembly polls, was in line with Yogi Adityanath and PM Modi's 'batenge' and 'ek hai' calls.
You may also like
National Epilepsy Day 2024: Raising Awareness and Supporting Those Affected
Zhou Guanyu 'lands surprise new job in F1' after being axed by Sauber
Barrackpore municipality Vice Chairman found dead at home
I played with Arsenal star axed by Mikel Arteta - here's why he made the right decision
Mehbooba Mufti urges NC to clarify stance on Article 370, slams ambiguity
