“People are very excited about this,” Arvind Kejriwal said in his letter to the prime minister.
New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today doubled down on his demand that banknotes contain images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh. He had yesterday urged the prime minister to issue new banknotes bearing the images, suggesting it would help the country overcome the economic hardship.
Today, he formally wrote a letter to Narendra Modi, “asking on behalf of 130 crore Indians”, to put pictures of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh along with Mahatma Gandhi on banknotes.
“The country’s economy is going through a very bad phase. Even after 75 years of independence, India is known as a developing country and a poor country… On the one hand, the citizens have to work hard, but we also need God’s blessing for our efforts are paying off,” he said in his letter, written in Hindi, which he also posted on Twitter.
मैंने प्रधानमंत्री जी को पत्र लिखकर 130 करोड़ भारतवासियों की ओर से निवेदन किया कि भारतीय करेंसी पर महात्मा गांधी जी के साथ-साथ लक्ष्मी गणेश जी की तस्वीर भी लगाई जाए। pic.twitter.com/OFQPIbNhfu
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 28, 2022
Arvind Kejriwal further said that his public question at yesterday’s press conference has huge support from the people. “People are really excited about this, everyone wants this to be implemented at the earliest,” he added.
On Thursday, the head of the Aam Aadmi party had said that Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity and that Lord Ganesh removes obstacles. “I’m not saying that all bills should be changed. But all new bills issued each month should have their image.”
He had referred to Indonesia, a Muslim country that has an image of Lord Ganesh on its banknote. “If Indonesia can do that, why can’t we?” Lord Ganesh’s image is printed on Indonesia’s 20,000 rupiah note.
AAP and Mr Kejriwal have been criticized by several proponents and opponents, who see this as an attempt to mimic BJP politics to sideline other opposition parties and become the main challenger to them.
The Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat parliamentary elections are imminent, as are the Delhi public body polls, and AAP has consistently sought to corner the BJP and destroy its traditional majority voters.
The BJP had ridiculed Mr Kejriwal’s comments, calling it his “final turnaround”, while Congress called it “voting politics”.
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