Stop ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, shut down minority wing: Suvendu Adhikari
Addressing the BJP’s state executive committee meeting in Kolkata, Adhikari, who is also the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, also dismissed the need for a minority morcha of the party
Kolkata: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said the party’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ slogan was unnecessary and it should be done away with while proposing a new slogan instead “Jo hamare saath, hum unke saath” (Those who are with us, we are with them).
Addressing the BJP’s state executive committee meeting in Kolkata, Adhikari, who is also the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, also dismissed the need for a minority morcha of the party.
“I have spoken for nationalist Muslims as well. We all used to say ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, but I would not say this anymore because I think it should be ‘jo humare saath, hum unke saath’,” he said. “There is no need of minority morcha.”
The meeting was attended by various senior BJP leaders in the eastern state, including Union minister and party’s state chief Sukanta Majumdar and former lawmaker Dilip Ghosh. Union power minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also present.
“Hindus were not allowed to cast their votes in the recently held Lok Sabha elections and in the assembly bypolls. The Hindi-speaking voters were not allowed to come out of their houses,” Adhikari alleged. “Earlier, BJP voters were stopped. Now, Hindu voters are not being allowed to vote.”
The Nandigram legislator further claimed that “goons” of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was not allowing free and fair elections in West Bengal.
Later, when his remarks triggered a controversy, Adhikari clarified that his comments had been taken out of context and asserted that he embodies in letter and spirit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’.
“My statement is being taken out of context. I am clear that those who are Nationalists, stand for this Nation and Bengal, we should be with them. Those who don’t stand with us, work against the interest of Nation and Bengal, we need to expose them,” he posted on X. “Also, like [West Bengal CM] Mamata Banerjee, we shouldn’t divide people in majority and minority and see them as Indians. I embody in letter and spirit, Prime Minister’s call for Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas.”
The BJP state executive meeting comes close on the heels of party’s defeat in the assembly bypolls for four seats last week as well as its below-expectation results in the Lok Sabha polls in the state, where its tally went down from 18 of the total 42 seats in 2019 to 12 this general election.
Reacting to Adhikari’s remarks, TMC lawmaker Santanu Sen said the BJP has been pushed to the edge after its back-to-back electoral defeats leading to factional feuds within it.
“The people of the state have pushed this anti-Bengal party to the edge of the cliff through elections. Every day their internal fights and bankruptcy are becoming conspicuous,” Sen told reporters. “Several BJP leaders including some of the party’s old guards engaged in a lot of mudslinging at the meeting today.”