BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in an interview with The Indian Express, took the blame for the recent Lok Sabha loss and said that he failed to counter the Opposition’s “anarchist” and “ultra-leftist” narrative.

He, however, said that it has all been sorted now with the help of organisations within the ideological family. Confident of a clear majority, Fadnavis spoke on a host of other issues. Excerpts:

BJP has traditionally been setting the narrative, but do you think that during the Lok Sabha polls you were unable to counter the narrative that the Constitution will be changed? Has anything changed now?

I completely admit that during the Lok Sabha elections, we failed miserably to set a counter narrative and we have to be blamed for that. At least in Maharashtra, I failed and we were also over confident.

Basically during the Lok Sabha polls, we were not fighting against parties, but were fighting against forces… Bharat Jodo was a force, formed by people with anarchist and ultra-leftist mentalities. This force created a hyperlocal narrative, and when we realised that they were creating a narrative against us, we had no capacity, capability and apparatus to counter it. We could not do anything about it. But now we are completely ready and we have the capacity. We have nullified that narrative and fed the real narrative so now we don’t have anything to worry about.

What are the two things that have happened that have helped you counter and fight that force?

First, their narrative that the Constitution will change and reservation will go is finished. Rahul Gandhi has tried but it did not work.

The second thing is that we as a political party have a practice of fighting against parties but we are not used to fight against forces. When we saw that our fight was with forces, we went to organisations that work in our vichar parivar (ideological family) and we appealed to them that anarchist forces were preparing a narrative that will result in people losing trust in our system. We told them that since the counter to that cannot be done by us (a political party), it has to be done by forces that work in that area (for example if there is a worker, then people working in that field can only respond to the anarchist narrative).

We appealed to organisations working under our ideological umbrella that if you don’t have to come into politics, don’t come, but nationalist forces will have to respond to anarchist forces and you will have to talk against anarchy. Today, they have helped us and because of their help, they have countered the Bharat Jodo narrative of the anarchist forces. It started immediately after the Lok Sabha results in June. We kept meeting with them but this time we made a special appeal to the nationalist forces.

So, is it the RSS that has worked for you?

While RSS doesn’t directly do anything itself, there are more than 30 organisations (which follow their ideology) working in various social spheres. They are very powerful but never enter politics. We told them, don’t ask people to vote for us, but atleast respond to the anarchist forces. That has helped us counter that narrative.

You said that urban naxal organisations were involved in the Bharat jodo Yatra.

There are several frontal organisations. I will surely reveal those with evidence.

When you have infrastructure and other projects to showcase, why is there a need for slogans like ‘batenge toh katenge’?

In politics when someone creates a narrative then it must be countered. We saw that in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress indulged in vote jihad. For example, in a seat like Dhule, we had a lead of 1.9 lakh votes from five assembly segments, but they got a lead at one segment in Malegaon central and defeated us by a margin of just 4,000 votes. The same happened in 11 other LS constituencies where there was extreme polarisation of Muslim votes, this is vote jihad. Fatwas were issued by maulvis and along with that, Congress created divisions along caste lines. That means on the one hand, they polarised Muslims, and on the other, divided Hindus. Historically whenever there was a division of society, the country was divided and society suffered. So, I think ‘batenge toh katenge’ and ‘ek hain toh safe hain’ are positive slogans for unity and there is nothing wrong with it.

Then why is ‘ek hain toh safe hain’ not for all religions? If the call is for keeping Hindus united, then it is fine, but if Muslims say the same then it’s not, why is it so?

Have you seen any Hindu religious leaders issuing fatwas that if Hindus do not vote for the BJP then it would be dishonesty towards God? Issuing fatwas is an issue as it is a political fatwa and creates communal divide. We will have to react to that narrative. In my speech, 95 percent is about development and only 5 percent is on countering that narrative. Through these slogans we are only saying that we should be united.

Is this all for countering the Maratha issue?

I will tell you one thing, 80 percent of Marathas are already Hindutvawadi in Maharashtra. There might be some 20 percent of Marathas who would be called progressive or atheist.

But then why have you become a villain in the eyes of Marathas recently?

There was an attempt to make me a villain by The NCP(SP), Sena(UBT) and it was pre-planned. But a person has his own character and you cannot overshadow his image permanently. Now that narrative is over. Now I have got the sympathy of the common man as people have seen my work. I gave reservation to Marathas during my term as CM. They know it. Some people may think differently but the public at large knows the truth.

What would you say to the infighting and rebellion seen among the three key allies of Mahayuti?

I don’t think it was a major issue. Only in some 10 percent cases, people are contesting against each other (in alliance). This is because of some issues on ground and some candidates being traditional rivals.

What do you think about Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi?

I think due to the opposition’s fake narrative, the VBA bore the brunt in the LS polls. However, Prakash Ambedkar has started working to take back lost ground. Let’s see what happens.

You have different issues to counter. In each region there are different issues for you. How do you see this entirely?

I think we have only one problem and that is of vote jihad. In Vidarbha the 32 percent dalit and tribal vote went to MVA during the Lok Sabha. They have now returned to us. In Marathwada too the situation has changed from what it was during the LS polls.

Where do you see yourself in this election?

I would say that in tough elections, we have got an edge and we are going to win with a majority. The single biggest factor that will work for us is positivity. For the incumbent government there is no anti-incumbency.

The issue of farmers’ distress like soybean and onion damaged the electoral prospects of the BJP in LS polls. Has there been a miscalculation this time too?

We have announced that whenever the market rate will be below the MSP, then we will pay the difference to the farmers under the Bhavantar Yojana. Since we have already given the difference to the farmers, they trust us (the government) and have it in their minds.