‘Gods on currency notes’: BJP worried Arvind Kejriwal dipping into its pocket
"Irresponsible” demand but AAP has nothing to lose and everything to gain after “anti-Hindu” remarks, admit BJP leaders
The BJP scrambled to mount an offensive Wednesday against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his suggestion to the government that images of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi be put on currency notes.
Facing an aggressive AAP in Gujarat polls, BJP leaders admitted in private though that Kejriwal had hit a master stroke while on the back foot over certain remarks made by AAP leaders, which the BJP had attacked as “anti-Hindu”.
The BJP’s talking heads who took on AAP Wednesday included national spokesperson Sambit Patra, who listed “anti-Hindu” instances involving Kejriwal, and its Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, who called the AAP leader’s suggestion an “unsuccessful attempt” to hide his party’s “ugly anti-Hindu face” ahead of elections.
BJP leader and former Bihar minister Shahnawaz Hussain accused Kejriwal of trying to “sideline Mahatma Gandhi”, while its IT cell head Amit Malaviya dubbed him “a Hindu bigot”.
However, with the BJP past masters at the perception game, party leaders admitted that their words might mean little. A senior BJP leader said: “It’s true that Kejriwal has caught the BJP off guard. AAP wants to prove that it is not any of the things that the BJP accuses it of – such as being Left-liberal, anti-Hindu or urban Naxalite.”
Plus, as the leader said, with such measures, Kejriwal “is trying to pitch himself and AAP right against the BJP and its leadership”.
