Maharashtra Dy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Credit: PTI photo
Mumbai: Amid divisions in the BJP-led Maha Yuti and attacks from opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, Devendra Fadnavis defended Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s ‘batenge toh katenge’ poll narrative saying that the message needs to be understood in perspective.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) has hit out at Adityanath for making the statement.
"This has been the country's history, there's nothing wrong in it. Jab jab bate hai, hum gulam bane hai. Whenever the country was divided into castes, prant (states) and communities, we became slaves,” Fadnavis told a TV channel in an interview.
"That is why, we will perish if we are divided,” he added.
Maha Yuti partner and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is the NCP President, has lashed out at Adityanath for the poll narrative.
On this, Fadnavis said, “For decades, Ajit Pawar has stayed with such ideologies which are secular and anti-Hindu. There is no real secularism amongst those who call themselves secularists. He has stayed with people for whom opposing Hindutva is secularism. There is no real secularism among those who call themselves secular.”
BJP leaders like Pankaja Munde, Ashok Chavan and Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil have objected to the statement of Yogi Adityanath.