The chief supremo of Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced ‘Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana’ under which priests of temples and ‘granthis’ of the Gurudwara will be reportedly paid a monthly honorarium of amounting to Rs. 18,000.
This announcement comes ahead of Delhi Assembly polls in nearly two months. The announcement was done while conducting a press conference.
“The name of the scheme is Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana. Under this, there is a provision to give an honorarium to the priests of temples and the ‘granthis’ of the Gurudwara. They will be given an honorarium of about Rs 18,000 per month,” Kejriwal said.
“This is happening for the first time in the country. The priest is a class that has carried forward the rituals from generation to generation. They never paid attention to their family and we never paid attention to them,” the AAP chief added.
“I will launch this scheme from CP’s auspicious Hanuman temple. I will do the registration of all the pandits in the temple. Later, our MLAs will take this forward in all 70 constituencies,” the AAP leader said.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia expressed gratitude to Kejriwal for the announcement of the scheme, stating that it will be implemented once the new government is formed.
“When the Aam Aadmi Party government is formed, the priests of temples and the granthis of Gurudwara Sahib will be given their rights by giving them an honorarium of ₹ 18,000 per month. Respect for the culture and religious institutions of Delhi has always been Kejriwal’s priority,” he tweeted.
‘Paid salaries to maulvis in mosques”
Reacting to the announcement, the BJP leader Parvesh Sahib, called it a “deception” and the Kejiriwal government only paid salaries to “maulvis in mosques.”
“I have been saying for years that temple priests and all gurdwara granthis should also be given salaries. However, for the past 10 years, @ArvindKejriwal has been paying salaries only to the maulvis and their associates in Delhi’s mosques. Now, with elections approaching, he suddenly remembers the priests and granthis. This is what you call deception,” he posted on X in Hindi.
