Yogi Adityanath aces UP bypoll test with campaign charisma, slogan

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s resounding victory in the bypolls to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh has re-established chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s charisma in state politics that took a hit after the ruling party suffered a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Adityanath not only led the BJP campaign from front by holding multiple rallies for the bypolls across constituencies , but also set the tone with the slogan “batenge toh katenge, ek rahenge to nek rahenge” (will be slaughtered if divided, unity will make us worthy)”.
The slogan could have backfired after the Opposition parties launched a scathing attack on Yogi, alleging that he was trying to create fear among a section of the people. Some senior BJP leaders distanced themselves from the controversial slogan, bringing the differences in the party into the open. Nevertheless, confident that the slogan will win seats for the party, Yogi continued his aggressive campaign, taking the slogan to all the nine Uttar Pradesh assembly seats as well as Maharashtra and Jharkhand where he sought votes for the BJP candidates.
Ignoring the Opposition attack, Adityanath moved ahead with the slogan saying: “Batiye mat, jab bhi bate the toh kate the, ek hain toh nek hain (Do not get divided, when we are divided, we were slaughtered, unity will ensure safety and strength)” at public meetings.
Lauding the BJP’s victory in the bypolls, Yogi, in a post on social media platform X on Saturday, reasserted confidence in his slogan “batenge toh katenge, ek rahenge to safe rahenge” (If we are divided we will be destroyed. If we stay united we will be safe). This indicated that his slogan effectively countered SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s slogan “judenge toh jitenge”. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP-led NDA not only retained five seats — Ghaziabad, Khair, Phulpur, Manjhawa and Meerapur — that it had won in the 2022 assembly election but succeeded in wresting two seats — Kundarki and Katehari — from the Samajwadi Party. Both the seats were considered SP strongholds. The BJP had won the Kundarki seat once in the 1993 assembly election and the Katehari seat in the 1991 assembly election.
Riding on the PDA formula, the Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 37 seats in the Lok Sabha election in UP in June while the BJP suffered a setback in its strong fort where its tally was reduced to 33 seats in 2024 from 62 in 2019. The debacle led to rumblings in the BJP as senior leaders not only alleged neglect of the organisation but also raised question over the capability of Yogi to win the election.
Immediately after the Lok Sabha election, Adityanath swung into action when the Election Commission of India started preparations in July for the assembly bypolls, seeing an opportunity to restore the party’s prestige and to send a message to opponents that his charisma has not eroded.
He was given a free hand by the BJP central leadership in drawing the strategy for the by-election and in the selection of candidates. He undertook whirlwind visits to all the constituencies, holding meetings with local party leaders and workers to draw the strategy for the campaign.
He addressed a series of public meetings in all these constituencies. He also constituted groups of three ministers, allotting one constituency to each group and tasking them with completing the groundwork for the campaign.
Adityanath chaired high-level meetings of the top state BJP leaders organised in the party office as well as at his official residence to give a momentum to the campaign. Sinking differences, the BJP presented a united front under the leadership of the chief minister with deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak addressing public meetings in the OBC and upper caste-dominated areas.
To woo the youths, the state government organised “rozgar melas” in nine assembly constituencies and announced the launch of various schemes for farmers and women. The victory of the BJP by comfortable margin in the seven seats indicates the support of the youth, women and farmers.
A political observer AK Mishra said the BJP alliance’s victory in the Muslim dominated seats of Kundarki and Meerapur clearly indicates that Yogi Adityanath’s slogan “batenge toh katenge” hit the bullseye in the election in polarisaring the Hindu community — upper castes, OBC and Dalits in support of the BJP and RLD candidates and breaking the PDA formula that have worked in favour of the SP in the Lok Sabha election.