On Saturday, in Nagpur, Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge charged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with deceiving the public with divisive chants, aggressive speeches, and the dissemination of false information against his party.
Speaking to a press conference in Nagpur prior to the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections, Kharge claimed that the BJP was “dividing and slaughtering” (baatna and kaatna), a reference to the “batenge to katenge” slogan that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath popularized and that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) later adopted.
Kharge urged the BJP to choose between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent call for unity and Adityanath’s divisive slogan. “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?”
In the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition blasted the BJP for what he called a diversionary tactic using divisive statements and false material. “The decision to divide or unite the people must be made by the BJP,” he stated.
Instead of tackling urgent problems like unemployment, the agrarian crisis, and deteriorating law and order, Kharge said, the leaders of the ruling party simply concentrate on sowing discord and deceiving the population.
Kharge also criticized BJP leaders for allegedly deceiving the public by claiming that the Karnataka government, led by the Congress, had failed to keep its election pledges. According to him, funds were appropriately allocated for every guaranteed plan that the party in the southern state had stated.
“I have addressed them in-depth in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. I still request that they investigate our Karnataka budget. 47% of the ₹52,000 crore budgeted for the five guarantee schemes has already been spent”. When asked if Modi and BJP officials had targeted the Karnataka government’s guarantee initiatives during their election campaign, he replied, “They probably haven’t seen the budget.”
When Kharge said, “It is shameful for a prime minister to speak such blatant lies and claim that Karnataka is not implementing the promised schemes,” he accused PM Modi of propagating lies. Modi was also tasked with proving that his administration had kept its main pledges, including tripling farmer incomes or retrieving dirty money. He remarked, “In my 60 years in public life, I have never seen a prime minister who lies so often and gets away with it.”
Kharge demanded a resounding vote for the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra and warned people not to put their faith in the BJP, which he described as a party full of liars. He charged that as part of its political rhetoric, the BJP was replicating his party’s guarantee schemes and making identical declarations in states that were headed to polls. “Everything is rhetorically jumla. The Congress always works for the welfare of the people, but they say things to win elections,” he remarked.
The president of Congress also criticized the BJP for using central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to disband political parties to establish coalition governments in states. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena were split up by the BJP in 2022 and 2023, respectively, to create a government in Maharashtra.
He claimed that the BJP leaders were now utilizing all their chief ministers to promote the [ruling] Mahayuti [alliance] to give the illegitimate [Maharashtra] administration a new lease. The BJP, the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP make up the Mahayuti coalition.
Additionally, Kharge claimed that Vidarbha had lost a significant amount of investment to Gujarat and that “two big leaders” from the area had done nothing about it because they were self-interested and only cared about retaining their positions. The union minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were apparently the subjects of his reference.
“We will present the work we have accomplished in 55 years,” Kharge said, challenging the BJP to defend its accomplishments over the previous 11 years.
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