Kolkata: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was in the eye of a storm on Wednesday.
Speaking at the party’s state executive meeting here, the Leader of Opposition said it was time to stop ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’, a popular slogan introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 to promote development of all Indians, irrespective of caste and religion.
Adhikari, in fact, went on to coin a fresh slogan – ‘Jo hamare saath, hum unke saath’ (those who are with us, we are with them).
“We will save Hindus and we will save the Constitution. I have spoken about nationalist Muslims and you all said ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’. But I will say it no more. Rather we will now say ‘jo hamare saath, hum unke saath’. Sabka saath sabka vikas bandh karo,” Adhikari said, calling for the need to scrap Minority Morcha.
Within hours, though, Adhikari had to resort to damage control as eyebrows were raised within the party and with Opposition leaders wondering whether he was questioning the Prime Minister himself.
“Sabka saath, sabka vikas is PM Modi’s slogan, and it won’t change with my words… What I meant was the BJP in Bengal should align with those who support them politically, and we should keep a safe distance from those who won’t come with us. it is not connected with administration or development,” Adhikari clarified.
“Swami Vivekananda himself said that one should have faith in one’s religion and show respect for the religion of others. There is no need to disrespect the religion of others,” he added.
BJP, hoping to win at least 20 seats out of 42 in West Bengal in the recent Lok Sabha elections, managed just 12 – 6 less than its tally in 2019 – while the ruling Trinamool Congress bagged 29.
