New temple, pilgrimages, and ‘Humare Ram’: In Punjab, AAP steps up Hindu outreach with Kejriwal’s large guarantees
Because the Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP) steps up its outreach additionally to Hindu voters forward of the 2027 Punjab meeting elections due in about seven months, occasion chief Arvind Kejriwal has introduced a collection of non secular and cultural initiatives. These embody temple redevelopment, expanded pilgrimage routes and Ramayana-themed programmes, even because the occasion navigates parallel controversies involving Sikh non secular establishments.
Kejriwal, throughout his three-day go to to Punjab whereas collaborating within the Punjab authorities’s ‘Ek Shaam Bhagwan Shiv Ke Naam’ (non secular discourse on Lord Shiva) programmes in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Batala, made the bulletins.
He claimed no earlier authorities had organised devotional gatherings on such a scale, and introduced that the programme would now be expanded throughout all 22 districts of Punjab.
5 guarantees by Kejriwal
Amongst 5 guarantees that the AAP shared as separate brief movies on its social media handles, the previous Delhi CM introduced a ₹80-crore redevelopment of the Kali Mata Temple in Patiala, saying the challenge can be accomplished by September.
“I consider it is going to emerge as one of many largest temples in northern India,” he mentioned.
Talking in Amritsar, he mentioned the Bhagwant Mann authorities can also be planning a grand temple devoted to Mata Janaki (Sita), Luv and Kush (sons of Lord Ram and Sita) adjoining to the Bhagwan Valmiki Temple at Ram Tirath in Amritsar. The place is historically related to Valmiki — the sage who authored the Sanskrit epic Ramayana that chronicles the lifetime of Lord Ram — and Sita, Luv and Kush.
“I returned from Ayodhya solely yesterday after providing prayers to Lord Ram on the Ram Mandir. At present, I’m extraordinarily pleased to make this announcement. This isn’t simply excellent news for the individuals of Amritsar however for devotees of Bhagwan Ram and Mata Janaki the world over,” the AAP supremo mentioned.
One other main announcement was the enlargement of the Punjab authorities’s Mukh Mantri Teerath Yatra Yojana. The scheme is open to individuals of all religions and covers pilgrimage locations related to a number of faiths, together with Sikh shrines, Hindu temples and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah for Muslims.
Kejriwal introduced three extra Hindu pilgrimage circuits — Salasar-Khatu Shyam in Rajasthan, Haridwar-Rishikesh in Uttarakhand and Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh — that are anticipated to start round August 1, with the federal government estimating that round 1.5 lakh pilgrims will journey on the brand new routes.
“Journey, meals, lodging and darshan—every little thing is free and paid for by the Punjab authorities,” Kejriwal underlined.
Kejriwal additional introduced that the Ramayana-based theatrical manufacturing ‘Humare Ram’, starring actor Ashutosh Rana, can be staged throughout Punjab from August 1. He mentioned the ticket value ₹8,000 when he watched it in Delhi. “The play can be free for the individuals of Punjab. I urge everybody to observe it — it is a wonderful manufacturing,” he mentioned.
At a programme in Gurdaspur, Kejriwal mentioned the Bhagwant Mann authorities had performed extra for Sanatan Dharma than earlier governments in Punjab.
Hatred by no means takes root in Punjab, says Mann
CM Bhagwant Mann used the Amritsar platform to emphasize communal concord too.
Describing Amritsar as a metropolis that offers the world a message of humanity and brotherhood, he mentioned Punjab was a land the place “no matter seed you sow grows, however the seed of hatred by no means takes root”.
He mentioned individuals within the state have fun Ram Navami, Gurpurabs, Hanuman Jayanti, Guru Ravidas Jayanti, Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom day and Eid collectively.
Punjab is round 58% Sikh, 38% Hindu, and has smaller populations of Christians and Muslims.
A part of sample
The outreach follows a broader pitch by Kejriwal in direction of sections of Punjab’s Hindu citizens in current weeks.
Earlier this month, he accused the Enforcement Directorate below the Centre’s BJP-led authorities of harassing “Hindu merchants” in Punjab via raids. The dealer group in Punjab is essentially city and Hindu. Opposition events criticised the remarks, alleging he was trying to offer an financial problem a communal color.
The outreach has additionally coincided with Kejriwal’s marketing campaign over the alleged embezzlement of donations on the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the place he has demanded motion in opposition to these accountable and attacked PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath’s governments straight.
Punjab’s politics has lately centred on agrarian points, regional identification and Sikh establishments, however the state’s electoral arithmetic additionally provides important weight to Hindu voters, who play an influential function in a number of city and semi-urban constituencies, together with the Abohar-Fazilka belt, components of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana; plus Pathankot, Batala and Hoshiarpur; apart from Patiala and Mohali nearer to the state capital Chandigarh.
Why timing is essential
With the BJP in search of to consolidate its voter base following its cut up with ally Shiromani Akali Dal, and the Congress in search of to deal with the city vote too, AAP’s widening pitch is unfolding in opposition to an more and more aggressive political backdrop forward of the 2027 meeting election, expetcted to be a four-cornered contest within the least.
The AAP regime is already going through the warmth over its anti-sacrilege laws for Sikh scriptures, over which the Akal Takht summoned all Sikh MLAs who supported the regulation that was handed unanimously earlier this 12 months. The Sikh temporal physique doesn’t have objections to strict punishments resembling life time period, however has famous that the regulation “interferes” with non secular tenets and authority. On Monday, the Takht management together with the jathedar, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj, held a listening to with all Sikh MLAs and gave them one month to amend the regulation.
This controversy has been accompanied by a row over a video allegedly displaying CM Bhagwant Mann in a way seen as hurting Sikh sentiments, a cost Mann has denied saying the individual within the clip was carrying a masks impersonating him.
