Calcutta: The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, apparently asked BJP workers on Wednesday to give up Narendra Modi’s Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas slogan and replace it with “Jo hamare sath, hum unkey sath”.

Pledging to stand by none but Hindus, as only they vote for the BJP, Adhikari has also suggested the dissolution of the party’s minority wing, prompting the leadership to distance itself from his remarks, dubbing them “personal”.

“We will save Hindus and save the Constitution. I also spoke for the nationalist Muslims earlier. You sloganeered Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas (With everyone, development for everyone),” Adhikari said while addressing party leaders and delegates at the BJP’s extended state executive committee meeting at the Science City auditorium here.

Then, the Nandigram MLA folded his hands and said: “I will not say that anymore. Rather, I will say jo hamare sath, hum unkey sath (with those who are with us). Stop (saying) Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas. There is no need for a Minority Morcha.”

Adhikari, a Trinamool turncoat, has been blatantly communal in countless public remarks since joining the BJP. But since the latest general election debacle, an apparent intensification of his stand drew out of him some shocking statements that made even the pro-Hindutva, far-right party squirm, internally.

In 2014, Prime Minister Modi had coined the Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas slogan, and had added Sabka Vishwas (everybody’s trust) to it in 2019. Ahead of the 2024 general elections, Modi further added Sabka Prayas (everybody’s effort) to it.

Adhikari’s comment, made in front of central BJP leaders, including the party’s Bengal minder Sunil Bansal and Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who chaired the meeting, became an embarrassment for the state unit.

Senior BJP leaders, including state president Sukanta Majumdar, did not endorse Adhikari’s comment, claiming that the leader of the Opposition was only a delegate to the meeting and had no role in fixing the party’s policy.

“You have to keep in mind that Suvenduda was a delegate in the meeting. Delegates give different types of proposals. However, whether the proposal will be accepted will be decided by the state president and his team. According to our party’s structure, there is a Minority Morcha. BJP considers Muslims like poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as assets of our country. The BJP will continue with this policy,” said Majumdar.

Despite defeating Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly polls, Adhikari has not held any organisational post so far. The party is all set to change its state president after Majumdar was made a junior Union minister.

Charles Nandi, the state president of the BJP’s Minority Morcha, claimed Adhikari’s comment was completely personal.

“What Suvendu Adhikari said is his personal opinion and not the party’s stand. Modi said in a meeting in Hyderabad last year that we would reach out to the Muslims, especially those who are backward, without expecting their votes. We will go by this stand,” Nandi said.

In his 14-minute speech, Adhikari desperately emphasised the party’s need to unite Hindus, claiming that if the situation didn’t change, then even he would not be allowed to cast his vote in 2026, saying how the Trinamool Congress had allegedly been winning elections with the help of goons from a particular community.

Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP’s chief spokesperson for Bengal and a Rajya Sabha member, has dismissed Adhikari’s comment, claiming that the BJP works for all, not for any particular community or section of people.

“The BJP does not pursue its politics with a particular section or community of people. Our politics is for 140 crore people of this country. Our politics is for the nationalist Muslims of Bengal too. Modiji’s vision is today’s religion is democracy and today’s politics is development,” Bhattacharya clarified.

Amid the controversy over his comment and drawing flak from his political colleagues, Adhikari backtracked shortly with a clarification.

“My statement is being taken out of context. I am clear that those who are Nationalists, stand for this Nation and Bengal, 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,” Adhikari wrote on his X handle.

“I embody in letter and spirit, Prime Minister’s call for Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas,” he added.

Adhikari, however, said that it was proved in Bengal that the majority of the Muslims voted for Mamata Banerjee, not for the BJP.

Trinamool did not miss the political opportunity, red-flagging how the Bengal BJP leader discarded the slogan coined by Modi.

“It is completely against the line of the central BJP leadership. Narendra Modi is now hearing from his party leaders in Bengal that his slogan will not continue anymore. The Bengal BJP leaders are mocking Modi’s slogan following frustration and depression after their failures in one election after another,” said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s Bengal tally came down to 12 from 18, which the party obtained in the 2019 general elections, prompting a section of party leaders to raise questions over its organisational lapses. The issue of organisational weakness became prominent inside the saffron camp after it lost the July 10 bypolls held in four Assembly segments, including three that were won by Modi’s party in 2021.

Several BJP leaders, on condition of anonymity, claimed that Adhikari’s comment was neither accepted by the state leaders nor by their counterparts in Delhi who were present at the meeting. Although the party follows the line of Hindutva, there was no reason to publicly announce the scrapping of the minority cell of the party as there are many Muslims and members of other communities involved with the BJP.

“We know that Muslims do not vote for us. However, in terms of Bengal’s socio-political scene, it would be poisonous to promote that the party is of Hindus and help the TMC to keep consolidating the Muslim votes,” a senior BJP leader said. He pointed out that Adhikari had to be covert while commenting about the Muslims who always support the TMC and help the state’s ruling party to bag more seats in every election.

Political scientists said Adhikari, unusually, sounds frustrated and hapless.

“I have been tracking Suvendu for many years. I don’t remember the last time he said something like this... clearly stemming from his worries over the latest election results,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.

“The BJP here has been lacking the necessary political equation as well as the organisation it takes. It has been trying hard to find for itself an alternative space. Hard Hindtuva failed them in 2021. A relatively mellow approach failed them in 2024. Now the likes of Adhikari are wondering what’s next,” he added.