Arvind Kejriwal wants Lakshmi and Ganesh images too on currency notes

In an attempt to reposition the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to add the pictures of Hindu deities Ganesh and Lakshmi on Indian currency notes along with that of Mahatma Gandhi.

Kejriwal said he was not asking for a change in currency notes but was requesting new notes to include the photos of Lakshmi and Ganesh. "Every day, new currency notes are printed. These pictures can be added then," he said, adding that the two gods were associated with wealth and prosperity.

Kejriwal said he came upon this idea while doing Diwali puja at his house. "We are all seeing that our economy is not recovering. We all want India to become a developed country; for that lots of work needs to be done. But all efforts will only be successful when there will be gods' and goddesses' grace on us. Today, I appeal to the central government that our currency has a picture of Gandhi ji on one side. It should be kept as it is, but on the other side, pictures of Lakshmi ji and Ganesh ji should be included," he said.


The appeal comes ahead of the Gujarat elections where AAP is banking on the Hindu majority votes. So far, AAP has not spoken against the release of the Bilkis Bano rape convicts. The appeal also comes just weeks after the resignation of Rajendra Pal Gautam from Kejriwal's Cabinet following a row over his participation in a religious conversion event where he allegedly took a vow denouncing Hindu Gods. As Gautam's participation had snowballed into a full-fledged political controversy, posters in urban centres of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara had come up showing Kejriwal in a skull cap. The party was clearly embarrassed and favoured letting Gautam go in the larger interest of the AAP's poll prospects in Gujarat.

On Wednesday, the party used Indonesia's currency notes to say that despite being a Muslim-dominated country, Indonesia had included the photograph of Hindu God Ganesh.