BJP protests Kejriwal's 'Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana', calls it election gimmick

"...Since the last 10 years, he (AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal) did not remember the Brahmins. All his announcements are lies. In Punjab he is having his government he didn't give a single penny. Here he promised 18 thousand, he won't give 18 paise. No Brahmins are going fall in his dissembling," said a BJP member.

The 'Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana', under which priests of temples and 'granthis' of Gurudwaras will receive an honorarium of about Rs 18,000 per month, has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties, particularly the BJP, due to the timing of the announcement, which came ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, BJP Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj also criticized Kejriwal, claiming the scheme was intended to appease voters ahead of the upcoming elections.

At a press conference, Swaraj said that Arvind Kejriwal had started a new type of appeasement politics called 'Arvind's appeasement.' She further urged the Delhi government to implement the scheme immediately, rather than waiting for the elections to be over.

"We heard a lot about election slogans but Arvind Kejriwal has brought a new wind of election gimmicks... Kejriwal's government has not paid salaries to Imams and Maulvis for 17 months... He did not solve the problems of Imams and Maulvis and started a new type of appeasement politics in which he said that he would pay salaries to priests and granthis. There is no election model code of conduct now, so why are you waiting for the elections? For one decade they did not respect 'Pujaris,' religious places, or 'Granthis,' and now when the election is closer, they are trying to appease them for votes," she said.

On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal launched the registration for the Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana on Tuesday. He visited the Shri Marghat Wale Baba Mandir at Kashmere Gate along with his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, to kick off the registration for the scheme. (ANI)