Pictures of gods on currency notes: Kejriwal writes to PM Modi

New Delhi [India], October 28 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to put pictures of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on currency notes stating that "it is a desire of 130 crore Indians."
"I have written a letter to the Prime Minister, and have requested him on behalf of 130 crore Indians that the Indian currency notes should have photos of Lakshmi and Ganesha apart from that of Mahatma Gandhi," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi along with the letter.
"It is the desire of the 130 crore people of the country that there should be a picture of Mahatma Gandhi on one side and of Ganesh and Lakshmi on the other side of the Indian currency. Today the economy of the country is passing through a very bad phase. Even after 75 years of independence, India is counted among the developing and poor countries. There are so many people still poor in our country. Why?" Kejriwal said in his letter to PM Modi.
Emphasizing that there is a need of blessings of God to make our efforts fruitful, the Delhi Chief Minister said, "On one hand, we all countrymen need to work hard and on the other hand, we also need the blessings of God so that our efforts are fruitful. Only with the confluence of the right policy, hard work and God's blessings the country will be on the path of progress."
Kejriwal further said that since he had demanded to put Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on banknotes there has been tremendous support from the general public.
"I publicly demanded this in a press conference. Since then there has been tremendous support from the general public on this issue. People are very excited about it. Everyone wants this to be implemented immediately," he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kejriwal has appealed to Prime Minister Modi to consider including the images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh on currency notes in India to "improve the economic situation of the country".
"Today I appeal to the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Indian currency there is a photo of Gandhi ji, let that be, on the other side of currency, a photo of Shri Ganesh Ji and Lakshmi ji should be put.
"As I said we have to make a lot of effort to improve the economic situation of our country. But also with that, we need blessings from Gods and Goddesses. The whole country will get blessings if on currency notes, there is a photo of Ganesh Ji and Lakshmi ji on one side and Gandhi ji on other side," Kejriwal said in his address.
"If Indonesia can do it; choose Ganesh Ji, so can we... I will write to the Centre tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to appeal for it... we need the Almighty's blessings apart from the efforts to settle the economic condition of the country," Kejriwal said.
Lord Ganesha is inscribed on the 20,000 rupiah note of Indonesia.
However, the Delhi Chief Minister faced backlash for his remark from several Opposition parties including the BJP.
Both BJP and Congress slammed the Delhi Chief Minister and termed his statement "vote bank politics" ahead of Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Notably, India's foreign exchange reserves during the week that ended on October 14 fell to an over two-year low of USD 528.367 billion, a drop of USD 4.5 billion from the previous week.
In the preceding week, the country's foreign exchange reserves were at USD 532.868 billion, RBI data showed.
According to RBI's data, India's foreign currency assets, which are the biggest component of the forex reserves, declined by USD 2.828 billion to USD 468.668 billion during the week.
The value of gold reserves dropped by USD 1.5 billion to USD 37.453 billion during the week.
The value of India's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund declined by USD 149 million to USD 17.433 billion during the week under review, the RBI data showed. The reserves have been falling for months now because of RBI's likely intervention in the market to defend the depreciating rupee against a surging US dollar.
For the record, the Indian rupee has been weakening over the past few weeks to hit fresh new all-time lows as the US dollar strengthened against major global currencies.