Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made ‘Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain’ the centrepiece of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign in Maharashtra and the slogan seems to be resonating the most in Muslim-dominated seats of the state, where every vote matters.
One such seat is Bhiwandi East in Thane district, which has over 55% Muslim population and has seen narrow victory margins ranging between 1,300 and 3,300 votes in the past three elections.
The Shiv Sena, under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the seat in 2010 and 2014, but Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Rais Sheikh won it in 2019 and is in the contest again as a Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate. This time, Sheikh is facing the biggest challenge from the PM’s new slogan.
“This ‘batoge toh maroge’ type slogans are good for some other place, but this (Maharashtra) is a state which follows Ambedkar’s ideology. It is a progressive state. I don’t see a place for such slogans here…in fact the more they do this, the more our chances of winning go up," Sheikh told CNN-News18 in Bhiwandi.
He termed the slogan a “desperate last-minute measure to divide society" and said there is no response to it. “They (BJP) know they cannot win on the development plank," Sheikh added.
His competitor and Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate, Santosh Shetty, however, said Sheikh was rattled by the PM’s slogan. “Sheikh is holding closed-door meetings with Muslims and telling them ‘woh toh ek ho gaye’. He is the man who described the description of a Lord Ganesh idol in Bhiwandi as a ‘small issue’ to appease Muslims. He wants to mislead Muslims and get their vote, but our slogan is to take everyone together, even Muslims. We want to keep the infiltrators out of Bhiwandi," Shetty told CNN-News18.
SUPPORTERS DIVIDED
“Hum kahan alag hain, sab ek hi hain (Where are we divided, we all are one)," says a group of elderly Muslims in a Bhiwandi street when asked about the PM’s new slogan that the Congress has termed as divisive.
“The BJP is saying wrong things, they want communities to fight. We want development. Jo kaam kare, usko vote do…not on caste or religion. Rais has done work, no MLA did so much work so far, he is the first MLA to do real work," they said.
The BJP supporters disagree and say the MVA is running its entire campaign on the “fake narrative" that the constitution and reservations are in danger.
“The PM’s slogan is not communal. The BJP schemes are for all — under the women’s scheme, for example, money has gone to Muslim women too. The Congress has nothing to speak on development, so they mislead people, but everyone knows where the unity lies this time," the BJP supporters said.
Sheikh, meanwhile, predicted the Bhiwandi East seat won’t have a close margin this time and he will win by a big margin. “The policy of dividing Hindus and Muslims is over. I am a Muslim candidate, but you can see around me my friends are from Hindu community," pointing to his supporters like Swati tai, a Dalit, and Tejas Patil, a Maratha. “I think development will work," he added.
Shetty has a parting message — “Sab ek raho. Sab ek ho jao and send Sheikh back to Mumbai (Sheikh belongs to Mumbai)." Shetty is banking on the PM’s slogan to see him home.
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