’Amit Shah doesn’t know we are one nation’: Congress’ TS Deo on BJP’s ‘batenge toh katenge’ slogan

TS Singh Deo, a Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister, said on Sunday that Home Minister Amit Shah "doesn't know that we are one nation." He said while hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for raising slogans of "batenge toh katenge" during election rallies.

"It is very sad that a person who is the Home Minister of the country doesn't know that we are one nation, that we are all together. He seems to be so insecure for whatever reasons, that he feels that the country is in parts," TS Singh Deo said on Sunday.

He asked, "Where is this 'alag' and 'batenge toh katenge' [We will be killed if we are divided]'? They [BJP] want to do that. They want to have sections so that they have some vote share or some vote bank somewhere."

The Congress leader said that his party has always been all-inclusive. "We want to take everybody along – we have to reach farmers, industrialists...The Congress wants to work. They want to raise some emotive issue which will give them some edge," Singh said.

What did Amit Shah say?

Speaking at the launch of the manifesto of Mahayuti in Maharashtra on Sunday, Amit Shah said the Congress tries to divide the nation by raising questions about caste.

He said Adivasis and the OBCs are strong as section of society. "Their strength diminishes of they are divided into caste," Amit Shah said. Further hitting out at the Congress and the Maha Aghadi Vikas (MVA) alliance, Shah said, “The entire nation knows under whose regime maximum riots were happened.”

Few hours later, Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the Opposition MVA while speaking at a rally in Maharashtra's Raver. He said the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi could stoop to any level for the sake of appeasement and vote bank politics.

Shah further alleged, “An organization of Ulemas demanded 10% reservation for Muslims in Maharashtra from the Congress. Currently, 50% of reservations have already been allocated. To implement additional reservations for minorities, Congress will have to reduce the reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and backward classes.”

Reacting to Shah's comments, Deo Singh said, “If development is appeasement, then sure, we would like to appease...”

His statement came ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024. The voting will be held on November 20 and the results will be announced on November 23.