Last week in Maharashtra, the ruling BJP launched a statewide campaign blitz with the slogan: “Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain”—If we are one, we are safe. It appeared in Marathi and English newspapers as well as on campaign posters across the state. The slogan is ambiguous yet also not-so-ambiguous. It’s yet another communal dog whistle or coded message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
If the idea is to convey a message of national unity, why is the slogan not worded as ‘Ek Hain Toh Mazboot Hain’—If we are one, we are strong? Why use the word “safe”? Safe from whom? Who is threatening our safety? From where is the danger coming?
Make no mistake: this is the same old wearingly shopworn BJP-RSS playbook to somehow suggest that there is a force out there insidiously threatening our collective safety. Such messaging points a finger at mysterious, dangerous “outsiders” and by perverse progression creates a fear psychosis targeted at Muslims.
