AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal with Jagadguru Swami Yogeshwaracharya Ji Maharaj during AAP's 'Sanatan Seva Samiti' joining event, ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also seen.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: As AAP set up its new wing 'Sanatan Seva Samiti' and inducted Hindu priests aligned with the BJP in it ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, Acharya Madhurji Maharaj told the gathering at the party headquarters on Wednesday, “on the day I was to meet Arvind Kejriwal, he waited for me for 35 minutes.”
While top AAP leaders like Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Saurabh Bharadwaj were present, Chief Minister Atishi was conspicuous by her absence at the ‘all-male’ event where ‘Sanatan Dharma’ and status of Brahmins were referred to.
The occasion was where AAP hosted Hindu sants days after promising Rs 18,000 monthly salary for Hindu priests and Sikh 'Granthis', even as the BJP described Kejriwal as a “Chunavi Hindu” and the moves “a desperate attempt to conceal Hindu hate” after “focussing on Imams for ten years”.
Fighting anti-incumbency for ten years and facing a more focussed BJP, the AAP is seeking to plug losses it may encounter and adopting a strategy of not providing space or opportunity for the BJP to capitalise.
This is not the first that AAP has used ‘Hindutva’ to place themselves as a party appealing to the majority community.
If it supported the abrogation of Article 370 and was shrill in its anti-Rohingya and anti-Bangladeshi rhetoric, themes that are appealing to the right-wing, the AAP has also sought to lavishly use imagery related to Lord Ram, including invocation of ‘Ram Rajya’ 23 times in the 45-page Budget speech last March.
It has also come up with a ‘Teerth Yatra Yojana’, majorly catering to Hindu pilgrimage centres, while it has named its poll promise ‘Sanjeevani Yojna’ for the free treatment of elderlies. It has conducted recitation of Hanuman Chalisa and Ramayana’s ‘Sundar Kanda’ ahead of Ram temple inauguration.
“AAP is pitching itself as distinct from the Congress. It has no historic baggage like the Congress. There is a tectonic shift in AAP's approach as it has realised how the BJP has won elections, especially the latest ones, by consolidating majority community votes,” political commentator Rashid Kidwai told DH.
While doing so, Kidwai said, it also seems that the AAP is confident that it is also the “only destination” available for the minority community voters aiming to defeat the BJP.
A senior AAP leader rebutted suggestions that they were taking a Hindutva turn and said they were only highlighting their beliefs while not discriminating against any other community. “There is a difference and if one cannot see it, then there is a problem with your lens,” he said.
Kejriwal or other AAP leaders have never shied away from flaunting their Hindu credentials with the party chief himself reciting ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ on live television when challenged. He did not wink when he suggested in October 2022 that pictures of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi be printed on currency notes to tackle economic slump.
Soon after AAP won the 2020 elections, Kejriwal was accused of not taking proactive measures to assure the minority community during the Delhi riots. AAP leaders also kept away from the Shaheen Bagh protest against CAA before elections, even as BJP leaders showered abuses on protesters.
Often accused by his opponents of taking RSS' support for the India Against Corruption movement, Kejriwal has time and again used popular imageries from ‘Ramayana’. He likened his incarceration to Lord Ram’s ‘vanvas’ while it was ‘agnipariksha’ for him when he said he was resigning as Chief Minister and seeking to return after a new mandate.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia described himself as Kejriwal’s ‘Laxman’ while Chief Minister Atishi kept a chair vacant like ‘Bharat’ did for Lord Rama when he went to exile. AAP has also mounted an attack on Lieutenant Governor for ordering demolition of temples.