On a day when the imams affiliated with the Delhi Waqf Board protested outside former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, demanding their overdue salaries, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced a new scheme that offers a monthly honorarium of Rs 18, 000 to Hindu temple’s Pujaris and Granthis of Gurudwaras if elected to the upcoming Assembly polls.
In a bid to dent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP’s) Hindu’s vote bank the AAP’s convenor said the registration for the Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana will begin on Tuesday. He also said he would visit the Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place on Tuesday to oversee the registration process for priests there. Registration will also be done at other temples and Gurudwaras across the city by the AAP workers, he said.
During their protest the All India Imam Association claimed their monthly honorarium of Rs 18,000 (for Imams) and Rs 16,000 (for Muezzins) have been delayed for over one and a half years and accused the Delhi government of ignoring their plight.
Amid a huge row over a scheme that promises a monthly stipend to unemployed women, the announcement by Arvind Kejriwal is a continuation of his welfare schemes for the people of Delhi which has however led to serious controversies. He first announced the Sanjeevani scheme for senior citizens, then the Mahila Samman Yojana, Dr Ambedkar Samman Scholarship scheme for Dalit students and now the monthly salary scheme for priests.
“Today I am making an important announcement regarding a scheme. The name of the scheme is Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana. Under this, there is a provision to give an honorarium to the priests of temples and the ‘granthis’ of the Gurudwara. They will be given an honorarium of about Rs 8,000 per month”, Kejriwal announced while addressing a press conference. “This is happening for the first time in the country. The priest is a class that has carried forward the rituals from generation to generation. They never paid attention to their family and we never paid attention to them,” the AAP chief added.
Terming Kejriwal’s ‘Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana’ a “political stunt”, the BJP claimed that no one would get even a single rupee since the latter does not have any data with him. Delhi BJP chief Veerendra Sachdeva said that Kejriwal is now a “defeated and desperate” leader who is making populist announcements daily to stay in power.
Former Delhi MP Parvesh Verma claimed that Kejriwal is remembering ‘Ishwar’ and ‘Waheguru’ due to the fear of loss.
But he did not remember them for the last 10 years, Verma alleged, adding he only used to remember ‘maulvis’ of the mosque, and used to see only one religion and one vote bank.
Taking a dig at Kejriwal, South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that Kejriwal should tell how many temples and gurudwaras are there in Delhi and what is the total amount estimated to be spent on this scheme.
Earlier this month, Arvind Kejriwal launched the Mahila Samman scheme which offered a stipend of Rs 2100 per month to unemployed women. AAP leaders started a registration drive for the scheme. However, the next day, the government’s women and child development (WCD) department advertised that the “Mahila Samman” scheme was “non-existent” and urged residents not to share personal data.
The AAP later claimed the officers involved in the fiasco were under BJP’s pressure. The party also vowed action against them. Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has ordered an inquiry against private persons allegedly collecting personal details of women in the name of enrolling them for the proposed scheme of the ruling AAP in Delhi.