The “batenge toh katenge” slogan reared its ugly head here before spreading like poison to other poll-bound states.

As by-elections are held in nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, religious polarisation is the common plank of every political party.

It was while campaigning in Agra in August that chief minister Yogi Adityanath launched the “batenge toh katenge” slogan, an indirect warning to Hindus to remain united or risk being slaughtered. Soon, the other parties joined the divisive bandwagon, some to fish in muddied waters, others as a defence mechanism.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has appealed to Muslims to vote for his party because the BJP government “has been intimidating them”. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has claimed that Kanwariyas consume ganja during their pilgrimage.

The seats where bypolls will be held are Kundarki (Moradabad), Karhal (Mainpuri), Katehri (Ambedkar Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Sishamau (Kanpur), Majhwan (Mirzapur), Meeraur (Muzaffarnagar), Pratappur (Bhadohi) and Phulpur (Allahabad). While the Samajwadi Party holds five of the seats, the BJP has 2, the RLD 1 and the Nishad Party (now a BJP ally) 1.

Concluding his campaign at Kundarki in Moradabad district, Shaukat Ali, the Uttar Pradesh chief of the AIMIM, said on Monday: “They (the Hindutva groups) oppose us when we offer namaz for two minutes (on the roads). These roads don’t belong to anybody’s father. They (the BJP government) block national highways for two months during the Kanwar Yatra in the month of Shrawan and policemen wash the feet of the kanwariyas.”

Ali clubbed his palms near his mouth to mimic the act of smoking weed and said: “They inhale it and remain in a daze. They smoke and drink. They turn violent and break others’ vehicles. But our police department applies lotion on their feet and showers flower petals on them from helicopters. These roads have not been built with the personal money of Narendra Modiji, Yogi Adityanathji or Amit Shahji,” Ali said in Kundarki, where Muslims make up 35 per cent of the population.

On Tuesday, Dinesh Sharma, BJP Rajya Sabha member and former deputy chief minister, shot back at Ali. “Ali should immediately be arrested for insulting the Hindu religion. The Opposition leaders are trying to polarise the elections along religious lines,” Sharma said.

Chandrashekhar, Rajya Sabha member from the Azad Samaj Party, said in Kundarki on Tuesday: “This politics of polarisation was started by Adityanath, who created fear in the minds of a section of the people.... The government is terrorising a particular community. But the community members must not fear. You must inform me if anybody tries to terrorise you during polling. I’ll come and sit with you.”

Trying to tap into the resentment of the minorities, Shyamlal Pal, the Samajwadi president of Uttar Pradesh, wrote to the Election Commission on Tuesday urging it to ensure that policemen are prevented from physically checking the identity of voters, particularly Muslim women. He alleged a plot to disuade the minorities from voting.

“It is a conspiracy to reduce the turnout (of Muslim voters).… The parades are being organised not to instill confidence in the people but to create fear in them,” Akhilesh wrote on X on Monday.

Nine UP seats vote today