New Delhi: With assembly elections in Delhi around the corner, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal announced Monday that Hindu priests and Sikh granthis, who act as a “bridge between God and the people,” would be paid a monthly allowance of Rs 18,000 if his party returned to power in the city-state. The former chief minister also said that any attempt to obstruct the scheme’s rollout would be considered an “act of sin”.
While Kejriwal is seeking to turn the tables on the BJP and the Congress for opposing the AAP-led registration drives for monthly payouts to women, his latest announcement is also part of a larger whole that sees the AAP constantly on the lookout to find ways to avoid being bracketed as “pro-minority”.
At a press conference Monday, Kejriwal also warned the BJP and the Congress not to obstruct the new scheme, “lest it attracts the wrath of God”. The AAP supremo encouraged opposition parties to launch similar projects in their states.
Kejriwal said: “Pujaris and granthis have been serving society for centuries, generation after generation. But the society at large, or parties and governments, have not paid any attention to them. Be it joyous occasions such as birthdays and marriages, or solemn ones such as funerals, they have been a constant presence. But they have been neglected.”
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Incidentally, Kejriwal had hiked salaries of imams and muezzins of mosques under the Delhi Waqf Board ahead of the 2020 Assembly polls–from Rs 10,000 and Rs 9,000 to Rs 18,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively. The scheme, however, has courted rough weather.
Ironically, All India Imam Association chairman Sajid Rashidi led a demonstration outside Kejriwal’s official residence Monday, the very day new salaries for priests and granthis were announced. Rashidi claimed that 250-odd imams in Delhi had not received salaries for over 17 months. He had also protested outside the former CM’s residence on 26 December.
Meanwhile, AAP will launch the registration drive for the “Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana” from the Hanuman temple in Delhi’s Connaught Place Tuesday.
Kejriwal said: “They will be paid around Rs 18,000 every month if our government comes to power. It is happening for the first time in the country. I hope the BJP and Congress will also take lessons from this and implement similar schemes in states ruled by them … Our MLAs, candidates, and workers will begin the registration drive across temples and Gurudwaras.”
Ahead of the 2021 assembly polls in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress had announced a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 for needy Hindu purohits and Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi priests. The Mamata Banerjee government also gave a grant of Rs 120,000 each for the construction of their houses.
In recent years, the AAP has also consciously tried to align its politics with the perceived popular sentiment by holding state-funded televised Hindu pujas, implementing free pilgrimage schemes for senior citizens, and demanding that images of Hindu deities Lakshmi and Ganesha be carried on currency notes.
As for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Kejriwal not only welcomed its consecration but also offered prayers.
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Two of Kejriwal’s pre-poll “cash” schemes have recently run into controversy after his own government departments denied their existence.
On 12 December, Kejriwal announced that women in the city would be extended a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 under the “Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana” cleared by the Delhi Cabinet. He said the amount would be enhanced to Rs 2,100 if the AAP returned to power.
However, a registration drive led by party workers to enlist women under the scheme ran into a roadblock when the Delhi government’s women and child development department issued a public notice, saying the scheme had not yet been notified and, therefore, was not in existence.
On Saturday, L-G V.K. Saxena initiated an inquiry into it, following a complaint by Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit.
The Delhi health department has also issued a notice, distancing itself from another scheme announced by Kejriwal for free healthcare benefits to senior citizens in government as well as private hospitals.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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