Decide between ‘Batenge toh katenge’ and ‘Ek hain toh safe hain’: Kharge to BJP

NAGPUR: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of misleading people through provocative speeches, divisive slogans and spreading misinformation about his party.
Addressing a press conference in Nagpur ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections on November 20, Kharge said the BJP was engaging in “baatna and kaatna” (dividing and slaughtering)—a reference to the “batenge to katenge” slogan popularised by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and later adopted by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Kharge asked the BJP to decide between Adityanath’s divisive slogan and the one coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently calling for unity. “While Yogi says, ‘Batenge toh katenge,’ Modi introduces the conflicting slogan, ‘Ek hain toh safe hain (If we’re united, we’re safe).’ I urge both leaders to come to a consensus on whose slogan should be followed—Yogiji’s or Modi’s?”
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The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha slammed the BJP for what he described as a strategy of distraction through provocative speeches and misinformation. “It is the BJP that must decide whether it wants to divide or unite the people,” he said. Kharge added that the ruling party’s leaders focus only on inciting division and misleading the public rather than addressing pressing issues such as unemployment, the agrarian crisis, and declining law and order.
Kharge also criticised BJP leaders for allegedly misleading people by saying that the Congress-led Karnataka government didn’t fulfil its election promises. He asserted that financial allocations were properly made for each of the guarantee schemes announced by the party in the southern state.
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“I have responded to them in detail in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Even now, I ask them to study our Karnataka budget. About ₹52,000 crore has been allocated for the five guarantee schemes in the budget, 47% of which has already been spent. They probably have not seen the budget,” he said in response to a question about Modi and BJP leaders targeting the Karnataka government’s guarantee schemes during their election campaign.
Kharge then accused PM Modi of spreading falsehoods, saying, “It is shameful for a prime minister to speak such blatant lies and claim that Karnataka is not implementing the promised schemes.” He also challenged Modi to demonstrate that his government had fulfilled its key promises, such as recovering black money or doubling farmers’ incomes. “In my 60 years of public life, I have never witnessed a prime minister who lies so frequently and faces no consequences,” he said.
Kharge urged voters not to trust the BJP, which he characterised as a party full of liars, and called for a decisive mandate for the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra. He accused the BJP of copying his party’s guarantee schemes and making similar announcements in poll-bound states as part of its election rhetoric. “Everything is jumla (rhetoric). They speak things for the sake of elections, while the Congress always works for the welfare of the people,” he said.
The Congress president also criticised the BJP for forming coalition governments in states by breaking up political parties through the misuse of central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. He was referring to the BJP forming a government in Maharashtra by splitting up the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
“And now, they (BJP leaders) want a fresh lease for the illegitimate [Maharashtra] government and are using all their chief ministers to campaign for the [ruling] Mahayuti [alliance],” he said. The Mahayuti alliance comprises the BJP, the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Kharge also alleged that Vidarbha had lost a lot of investment to Gujarat, saying that “two big leaders” from the region didn’t do anything about it as they were concerned about saving their posts and did not care about the people’s interests. He was seemingly referring to Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Kharge challenged the BJP to engage in a debate about its achievements over the last 11 years, stating, “We will present the work we have accomplished in 55 years.”