From ‘divide’ to ‘unite’, catchphrases define high-stakes U.P. bypolls
From BJP’s ‘bantenge toh katenge’ to SP’s ‘judenge to jeetenge’ and now BSP’s ‘SP, BSP se door rahenge to bache rahenge’ slogans appear to have intensified the November 13 bypoll battle
The upcoming bypolls to nine U.P. Assembly seats seem to be revolving around slogans coined by three major players namely the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
From BJP’s ‘bantenge toh katenge’ (divided we fall) to SP’s ‘judenge to jeetenge’ (united we win) and now BSP’s ‘SP, BSP se door rahenge to bache rahenge’ (keeping away from SP, BSP will save you) slogans appear to have intensified the November 13 bypoll battle.
Political experts feel that slogans play a vital role in any election campaign. Some political commentators also feel that more than one slogan of the same gravity can neutralise its effect and it will not really help any political party in the polls as such.
Samajwadi Party’s Sudhir Panwar, also a former member of UP Planning Commission, said, “Slogans are political messages reflecting political ideologies and future programme of a political party. Since beginning, the BJP-RSS slogans are designed to exploit the basic sentiment of fear and faith for electoral gains. On the other hand, SP’s slogans are based on ideology of socialism, brotherhood and future programme.”
“Poor performance of the BJP in the 2024 LS polls in UP led to the coining of this divisive slogan. The BJP’s slogan is aimed to communalise the election,” he claimed. On the other hand, political commentator and journalist Ratan Mani Lal feels all the three political slogans lately are of equal gravity and hence they neutralise one another, not giving any mileage to any party.
“When there are three slogans and they all are good, people don’t really remember any particular one, hence neutralising its desired effect. The slogans which are currently in the news can be used either way by any of the political parties. They are saying the same thing but in different ways,” he opined.
“In the upcoming bypolls, things are at stake for UP CM Yogi Adityanath as it may further strengthen his position. On the other hand, the SP chief must also be thinking of winning maximum seats that will not just strengthen his party for 2027 assembly polls but will also send a silent message to the Congress to stay out of UP politics,” Lal said.
“My observation is that Akhilesh Yadav is on good terms with the Gandhi family but at the same time, he wants the Congress to keep things at the bay in UP,” the journalist said.