"Arvind's appeasement": BJP's Bansuri Swaraj takes dig at Kejriwal over 'Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana'

New Delhi [India], December 31 : BJP Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj on Tuesday hit out at former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the 'Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana,' under which priests of temples and the 'granthis' of the Gurudwara will receive an honorarium of about Rs 18,000 per month, and said that the scheme is intended to appease the voters ahead of upcoming assembly polls.
Addressing a press conference, Swaraj said that Arvind Kejriwal has started a new kind of appeasement politics called 'Arvind's appeasement.'.
She further asked the Delhi government to implement the scheme and not wait for the elections to 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.
Hitting out on AAP's promised 'Mahila Sanman Yojna,' she said, "AAP had promised Mahila Sanman Yojna-like schemes in Punjab, but the sisters of Punjab have not gotten anything in these years."
"They announced 'Sanjeevani' Yojna, after which government officials released a notification that there is no such yojna existing," she added.
"How will you answer those who have not got their honorarium from the last 17 months? You have excluded Christian priests. When will you answer them?" she asked.
Taking a dig at the AAP welfare scheme announced in the recent time ahead of polls, she said, "Vidyalaya ka kara vada aur madralay ka jaal bichaya chunao nikat aaya toh Kejriwal ji ko devalaya yaad aaya."
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday launched the registration for Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana. He visited the Shri Marghat Wale Baba Mandir at Kashmere Gate along with his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, to start the registration for the scheme.
This comes after the former Chief Minister of Delhi on Monday announced 'Pujari, Granthi Samman Yojana,' under which he stated that the priests of temples and the 'granthis' of the Gurudwara would receive an honorarium of about Rs 18,000 per month. He further stated that this scheme would be implemented once the AAP from the government wins in the upcoming polls in the national capital.
"We know how pujaris serve us. Be it the birthday of our kid or the death of a loved one, they have always connected us with God. But they never gave attention to their own families, and neither did we pay enough attention to them. This is happening for the first time in the country. We have done many works in the national capital that happened for the very first time. We improved schools and hospitals and made bus travel for women. I just hope that the BJP and the Congress governments will learn from this and will implement such schemes in the state run by them," he added.