Apparently under pressure from the top BJP leadership as well as the workers down below after his party’s not-so-impressive show in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections, BengalOpposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari has suggested a more fogeyish slogan for the party ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

Adhikari wants not only to dissolve the BJP’s minority morcha but also replace the widely held slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Viswas” (Togetherness and inclusive development)with Jo Hamare Saath, Hum Unke Saath; (Those who are with us we will be with them).”

Incidentally, the slogan is credited to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Adhikari placed the proposal in a recent party meeting, insiders said wondering whether theparty leadership would accept this “radical right turn” at the risk of losing “a good percentage of Left votes that have been backing us since 2019.”

Underscoring his strategic line at a party meeting the Opposition Leader reportedly said, “I had said that I have no problem with nationalist Muslims … they too had saidSabka Saath, Sabka Vikas… But I will not say this anymore. Instead, we will now say Jo Hamare Saath, Hum Unke Saath,” he said suggesting the disbanding of the BJP Minority Morcha.  “Let us shut down this Minority Morcha which is not needed anymore … you be for me … then only I will be for you,” he said.

However as eye-brows were raised in Delhi, Adhikari backtracked saying he was being “quoted out of context.”

“My statement is being taken out of context. I am clear that those who are nationalists stand for this Nation and Bengal, and 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. Also, like Mamata Banerjee, we shouldn’t divide people in majority and minority and see them as Indians,” he posted on X adding how he followed “in letter and spirit, Prime Minister’s call for Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas.” Adhikari’s advice came days after Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar asked the party workers not to rely too much on the central agencies to overthrow the Trinamool Congress Government and concentrate on building a strong organizational network instead.

His remarks were apparently directed at Adhikari, who has often been heard telling the public that soon theED and CBIO would catch the TMC leaders including its top leadership and put them in jail.

Adhikari’s remarks also come against the backdrop of some strong statements coming from senior party leader and former State president Dilip Ghosh who a few days ago quite meaningfully said that he would a few months for the revamp of the party’s State unit before taking the final call on whether to quit politics.

The revamping of the party organisation has become overdue in the backdrop of Majumdar getting inducted in the Union Ministry.

Ghosh --- who is often credited with the party’s meteoric rise in 2019 when BJP got 18 seats up from 2 in 2014 --- is expecting his re-installation to the post of State president. However in this year’s election the party could win only 12 seats against the Trinamool Congress’ 29 leading to a massive internal criticism for failing to capitalize on a number of issues including large-scale corruption that saw a number of TMC ministers and MLAs going to jail and drop in law and order situation.

It is apparently against such developments that Adhikari’s “radical right turn is being viewed,” sources said.

Other senior leaders of the party would not speak a word on the Opposition Leader’s statements.

A senior leader and a former State president said, “slogans are for the top leadership to be ratified.”

While TMC leader Kunal Ghosh scoffed at Adhikari telling, “he is a traitor who betrayed his creator Mamata Banerjee when he left the TMC,” adding “Suvendu is now facing existential crisis and so is trying to remain afloat and relevant by making such statements … but this will taking him down to the ditch.”

The Left Front on the other hand compared Adhikari’s remarks to that of the TMC whose leaders have often been heard threatening to stop government schemes in area specific manner if the party would trail in those segments in the elections.

“Even TMC says that those who will vote for us will get Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyashree and other government schemes … and those who won’t would be dropped from the list … this proves that they are two sides of the same coin,” said CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakrabarty.