Stepping up the campaign for the Assembly elections in Gujarat where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is trying to challenge the BJP, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday embarked on a temple run in the State by offering prayers at Somnath Temple. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairman, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is a trustee of the temple.
Mr. Kejriwal, who is also AAP’s national convener, later told mediapersons that he prayed for “India and Gujarat” and for “making India a world power.”
In a bid to mount a challenge to the BJP in its strongest Hindutva bastion Mr. Kejriwal, who has been frequenting the State since March, arrived at the sprawling temple situated on the sea coast, holding a flag on his head and wearing a rudraksha around his neck. He was flanked by AAP leaders of the State unit.
Later, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on its Twitter handle posted an image of Mr. Kejriwal wearing a rudraksha and with vermillion paste on his forehead. AAP also uploaded a video of the Somnath temple on its official Twitter handle while Mr. Kejriwal on his handle posted images of him offering prayers at the temple.
“I am fortunate to offer prayers at the jyotirlinga of Somnath during the holi month of Shravan. I prayed for the well-being and prosperity of all countrymen and for making India No 1 in the world,” he said on the microblogging social media platform where he has a base of 25.9 million followers.
Mr. Kejriwal is scheduled to visit Somnath again on August 1 to interact with farmers as part of his campaign ahead of the December Assembly elections.
This was not the first time in Gujarat he has bid to endear himself and his party to the Hindu voters where BJP with its strong Hindutva majoritarian politics has been ruling since the mid-90s.
In May this year, Mr. Kejriwal tried to strike a religious chord with voters in Rajkot by stating that the AAP government, if elected to power, would ensure that senior citizens could go on pilgrimages in air conditioned trains.
He had asked the voters if BJP ever took anyone on pilgrimage to Ayodhya where the Ram temple is being built. “Did the BJP ever send anyone to Ayodhya for pilgrimage in the last 27 years from Gujarat?” Mr Kejriwal had asked and added that a poor old woman from Gujarat had expressed her desire to visit the temple in Ayodhya.
“I told her that we must all pray that we get to form the government in the state and we shall send her and others to Ayodhya in an AC train and put her up in a AC hotel and show her Lord Ram’s birthplace in Ayodhya,” he had said.
Earlier in April, Mr. Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann had offered prayers at the Swaminarayan temple in Shahibaug in Ahmedabad on the concluding day of their two-day visit.
