Maharashtra elections 2024: Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis says BJP not against Muslims, only opposes appeasement

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis at his official Sagar bungalow at Malabar Hill. Pic/Kirti Surve Parade

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is leading the BJP's third consecutive state Assembly elections campaign, is confident that the BJP-Mahayuti will form its third government. With just six days to go to poll day, the former CM said the alliance had an edge over the MVA that was focused more on appeasement politics rather than development agenda. He said the BJP's pitch of ‘Batenge to Katenge' and ‘Ek hai toh safe hai' was a counter-narrative to the Congress-MVA's narrative of dividing the society on the lines of caste and religion.

In an interview with mid-day, Fadnavis spoke about a range of issues.

On ‘Batenge to Katenge'

In fact, the Congress started it with its appeasement policy. In Lok Sabha elections, their experiment of ‘vote jihad' succeeded. It worked in Dhule and some other constituencies in the state and Mumbai. They used religion to garner votes. They displayed banners on the masjid (against BJP-Mahayuti). What kind of secularism is this?

Now, the Congress has accepted the demands of the Ulema Council. One of the demands is to withdraw cases against those accused in riot cases. This is pressure tactics from one specific community. That's why we have appealed to the people to be united. The Congress is also attempting to divide the society based on caste through caste census promise. We are not against the Muslims. We have not barred anyone from the beneficiary schemes like Ladki Bahin. We are against appeasement politics. We have to counter the divisive politics of the Congress-MVA.

The Constitution narrative has been demolished by Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi's ‘red book' concept is lifted from a country where similar tactics were used to create anarchy and win elections. But the incident in Nagpur exposed them. The blank pages of the ‘red book' have insulted the Constitution like never before. The Congress soul is as blank as those blank pages of the red book. The narrative has boomeranged on them.

On the other hand, we're working on the agenda of development and welfare schemes that will help the people, and grow the state further. Uddhav Thackeray's government gave us a baseline to compare us with them. Otherwise, there would have been nothing to talk about (had we been running the government since 2019).

On Ajit Pawar

Perhaps Ajit Pawar and others did not understand that whenever we were divided, the nation was divided, and the society was divided. Through caste census, the Congress wants to split the OBCs, STs, and other castes into small groups. These castes will become weaker if divided. Remember that Ajit Pawar has supported ‘ek hai toh safe hai'.

PM Narendra Modi has said that he is not opposed to the caste census. But we don't want that (census data) to be used as a weapon for seeking more because "we are more in numbers". The census should be used for the welfare and emancipation of ‘have nots'.

On Maratha reservation

I will not comment on (Maratha quota activist) Manoj Jarange Patil, because he is not contesting the elections, and he hasn't made any political announcement. What we're worried about is the divide between Marathas and OBCs in certain parts of the state. We want it plugged. Also, no party in the MVA or their alliance has made a mention of the Maratha quota in their individual or joint manifestos. That is surprising.

The Congress and MVA's promise to remove a 50 per cent cap on reservations is an empty assurance because they should have read the Supreme Court's verdict that endorsed a 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS). I don't buy the theory that Marathas did not vote for us in the Lok Sabha elections. MVA and Mahayuti's Lok Sabha vote shares are almost the same. Could we achieve that share without getting the Maratha votes?

On costly welfare schemes

It is a myth that the government of Maharashtra is buried under a mountain of debt. We're an economic system of R40 lakh crore, and the current debt is R6-7 lakh crore. We're still as per the debt-GDP ratio. There will be no further taxes (to meet the additional expenses). The states can't levy more taxes in the current tax regime. All that has been promised and the expenses needed for it will be part of the state budget. When you ask us about debt and expenditure, you should also ask MVA (that has also promised increased cash doles) how they will manage the schemes they have promised.

On rebellion

We have given candidates not only to our allies but also to our opponents. Shiv Sena (UBT)'s first list of candidates had 17 people from our rank. Rebellion is everywhere. Since the 2019 results, we started planning for 288 seats. The situation changed later. We told them (prospective candidates) that we would not be able to accommodate them (because of sharing with alliance partners). Such is today's politics that nobody is willing to wait.

On support to Raj's son

We're in Mahayuti. Earlier, we wished that we supported Raj Thackeray's son Amit. But the Sena (Shinde) also put its candidate, and they said that if they didn't, their votes would go to Uddhav Thackeray's Sena. It will be like supporting Sena (UBT), they said. It was because of this that CM Eknath Shinde (also his party chief) could not decide.

As far as Nawab Malik's candidature is concerned, we don't consider him a part of Mahayuti. On Ajit Pawar's revelation that a meeting to make a government with undivided NCP was held at business tycoon Gautam Adani's residence in 2019, I can confirm that such a meeting was held, but not at Adani's residence. I have said this earlier too. The meeting was held at a neutral venue in New Delhi. It was attended by Amit Shah, Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, and Praful Patel. I was also present. It was decided that BJP and NCP would make a government.

Sharad Pawar suggested that, in the meantime, President's Rule be imposed in Maharashtra. He also said he would tour the state, and come to a conclusion that the people wanted a stable government. We had decided everything right from the ministries to the guardian ministers. I remember that Sharad Pawar had called me to say that he was sending Ajit Pawar (who took an oath of office as Dy CM along with Fadnavis as CM. They resigned within three days and later MVA was founded to run the state till the undivided Sena split).

I think what Sharad Pawar might have thought before withdrawing. He might have thought that it would be better to have everything under his control (by installing MVA), rather than working with strong people like Modi-ji, Shah-ji, and myself.

On poll prediction

Every election is tough and this is an entirely different one. But I would say that we have an edge over our opponents, and we will together win the number of seats that we had won in 2019. We will not need anyone, especially Sena (UBT)'s support to stabilise our government. People are with us. The Opposition's narratives are not effective any longer. The ‘vote jihad' will work in selected seats, not everywhere. We three parties together will make a government.

On Mahayuti's CM candidate

What Modi-ji and Shah-ji have said about me is normally said during the elections. I'm the state leader, and naturally, they appealed to the people that they should make ‘Devendra Fadnavis victorious. You shouldn't read more into it. There is no formula such as the number of MLAs or strike rate to decide the next CM. All three parties will sit together after the results to decide the chief minister.