Mandhir Singh Deol
New Delhi, 30 December
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal made his fifth promise before the Delhi Assembly elections. He announced Pujari Granthi Samman Rashi scheme to sway Pandits and Sikh voters towards Aam Aadmi Party. In this plan, AAP has promised to give a monthly stipend of Rs 18,000 to all pandits and priests working in temples as well as scribes in gurdwaras across the city if the party is re-elected. He has promised for Pandits and Sikh voters, whose vote is about 20 percent. Kejriwal, however, did not clarify whether the scheme would extend to church priests or not. The Delhi government already runs a program for imams under which they get a monthly stipend of Rs 18,000.
The former Chief Minister of Delhi said that these are the people who have been serving God for generations and have been carrying forward our culture, traditions and customs for decades. They work in the temple and pray for us. They never think about themselves or their family, they just dedicate themselves to God and work to keep our traditions and culture alive. So, I will not call this amount as salary but it is our respect towards them.
Kejriwal announced that AAP is the first party in the country to launch such programs for Pandits and Granthians. He said that no other party in the country has implemented such a plan yet. He announced that the registration process for the scheme will begin on Tuesday at the Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place.
Mr. Kejriwal said that he will start this scheme from the Shubh Hanuman temple in Connaught Palace. They will register all the pandits in the temple. Later their MLAs will take it forward in all 70 constituencies.
Appeal to BJP not to stop the registration process
Kejriwal accused the BJP of trying to block registration for their other programmes, urging the party not to interfere in the registration of pandits and scribes. He said BJP workers tried to block registration for other schemes like Mahila Samman Rashi and Sanjeevani Yojana through police and other means. By doing this they hope that the BJP will not interfere with the scheme as it is a scheme for priests who are considered to be a bridge between humans and God. If they do that, it will be a great sin. They (BJP) have already committed many sins, but don’t try to stop such an auspicious plan.
Imams have not received salary for 17 months
All India Imam Association Chairman Sajid Rashidi said, ‘It has been 17 months since the government released the salary. We have reminded the government, met the Chief Minister, Lt. Governor and other officials to release the payment… If they do not release our salaries, we will sit on dharna indefinitely.’