Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded that the images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha be printed on currency notes in addition to that of Mahatma Gandhi, falling back on faithbased tokenism ahead of the Gujarat polls and further crystallising its majoritarian tilt.

After Kejriwal made the demand, several AAP leaders addressed back-to-back media conferences supporting the move and slamming the BJP for mocking the proposal. The media overdrive was similar to what the party did when it accused Rohingya and Bangladeshis — without proof — of complicity in the communal violence in the capital in April.

A party source said the demand was aimed at hogging the attention of the electorate in Gujarat where AAP is investing all its political capital as its government in the capital has been rendered ineffective by several corruption inquiries.

Kejriwal, also the Delhi chief minister, said: “We all know that all the businessmen and industrialists keep the idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi in their offices. They all pray to them at the start of their days, before they begin the day’s work.

“Today, I am appealing to the central government that our currency notes have the image of Mahatma Gandhi on one side. It should remain as it is but on the other side of the currency notes, there should be images of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi…. I iterate that we need to make a lot of efforts to revive our economy.

“However, we need the blessings of God along with it. If there is an image of Mahatma Gandhi on one side of the currency notes and an image of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on the other side, the entire country will get their blessings.”

Citing Indonesia’s erstwhile Rupiah 20,000 note that had an image of Lord Ganesh, he added: “Indonesia is a Muslim country; 85 per cent of its population is Muslim and less than 2 per cent of its citizens are Hindus. However, they have also put the image of Lord Ganesh on their currency notes.”

Indonesia, a secular republic with the largest Muslim population, uses Hindu motifs because of the Indian influence on the heritage of the country. The Ganesha note, which also has the image of educationist Ki Hadjar Dewantara, was issued at the end of dictator Suharto’s era in 1998 and remained in mint till 2004.

Gautam Jha, who teaches the Indonesian language and culture in JNU, said: “More than half of Indonesian universities have Hindu deities in their symbols. Suharto wanted to thwart Islamic forces and hence promoted the use of these cultural symbols and social structure received from cultural influence of India.”

India has issued commemorative coins for Shree Mata Vaishno Devi in 2012, Guru Granth Sahib in 2008, Thanjavur’s Brihadeswara Temple in 2020, in addition to saints and social reformers from multiple faiths. The Konark Sun Temple, and Hampi’s stone chariot are also present on currency notes.

An artist’s representation of a Rs 100 note with both the deities was widely circulated on social media on Wednesday. Not only was there a backlash of liberal voices, but several BJP leaders also slammed Kejriwal as antiHindu, citing his previous stands in favour of secularism and against ultranationalism.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said: “He is doing political drama to divert people's attention from the flaws of his government and the antiHindu mindset of the Aam Aadmi Party. What Kejriwal has said in his press conference is another extension of his Uturn politics. His hypocrisy is on show.”

An AAP strategist told The Telegraph: “More than 80 officers of the Delhi government face probes by the lieutenant governor. So no, officer is now following orders. The government has been rendered toothless by an amendment in the law (last year), and Delhi may even revert to not having a government. In this scenario, we are giving the FarRight a run for their money and this has clearly hassled their ecosystem. But we are getting a lot of hate for this even though it doesn’t harm Muslims.”

The source added: “This is not a race for morality. It is a race for votes…. People vote for the Congress because they don’t like the BJP. There is no liberal votebank as such. We have to be different from the BJP, enough for the voters to know we are better than the Congress.”

AAP has tried to own Hindutva after 2019, in order to emerge as a benign Hindu alternative to the BJP. After the Supreme Court judgment that year, AAP switched from opposing to supporting the upcoming Ayodhya temple and adding it to his government’s pilgrimage scheme. Programmes such as live telecasts of pujas by the Delhi cabinet and chanting of prayers to Hanuman in public spaces are now pushed by AAP and its Delhi government.

Kejriwal kept off the Shaheen Bagh movement in 201920 as well as Jahangirpuri where a communal skirmish was followed by demolitions of mostly Muslim establishments by the BJPruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi in April. AAP’s support among Muslims has waned after the Kejriwal government largely remained a bystander during the riots here in 2020 that claimed over 50 lives.

Last year, Kejriwal declared “Ram Rajya” as his government’s goal. The only Dalit minister in Delhi, Rajendra Pal Gautam, was forced to quit after participating in an annual Buddhist event that the BJP objected to and AAP remained silent on.

CPM activist and SFI joint secretary Dipsita Dhar tweeted: “The fallacy is, Arvind Kejriwal demanding Hindu goddess to be printed in Indian currency, sitting right beneath the photo of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. How far can these people go?”

The Congress demanded Kejriwal’s resignation for “blatant violation of the secular principles in the Constitution”.