The Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi on Monday announced a monthly dole of ₹18,000 to pujaris and granthis ahead of the election in the capital next year.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal told reporters: “Today, I am announcing a scheme called the Pujari-Granthi Samman Yojana. Under this scheme, provisions have been made to provide a monthly honorarium to priests who perform worship in temples and to granthis who serve in gurdwara.

“I sincerely appeal to the BJP not to obstruct this scheme, as they have tried to do with others in the past. They sent police and filed false cases to block the Mahila Samman Yojana but failed. They tried to stop the Sanjeevani Yojana but could not. I request them not to create obstacles for this scheme for pujaris and granthis. Harassing or opposing this initiative would be a grave sin,” said the former chief ministerof Delhi.

Amid a tussle between the AAP government and the BJP-led Centre over the division of power in the capital, two Delhi government departments recently issued public notices disowning two other welfare scheme announcements by the AAP.

Kejriwal, however, did not explain why the scheme was restricted to two religious faiths. Several states have similar schemes to support pujaris or fund temples.

Chief minister Atishi posted on X: “When the Aam Aadmi Party forms the government in Delhi again, temple priests and gurudwara granthis who have been preserving and carrying forward our culture and civilisation for generations will be given an honorarium of ₹18,000 per month.”

In Delhi, a few Muslim clerics are paid by the waqf board, which gets government grants. Other faiths pay their priests through their private bodies not aided by the state. Delhi’s waqf board clerics on Monday protested near Kejriwal’s residence for non-payment of wages.

All India Imam Association leader Sajid Rashidi said: “Imams have not received their salaries for the past 17 months, so we are trying to convince the Delhi government to release this money to the waqf board before the elections because once the model code of conduct is implemented the entire process stops…. Around 250imams are affected.”

Political observers believe the AAP is playing the Hindutva card just before the elections to compete with the BJP. Schools have been ordered to specifically identify children of undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants. Previously, the AAP government had also funded pujas.

Soon after the announcement, the BJP and the Congress took digs at the AAP. BJP Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva told reporters: “We took this to court and the case will be heard on January 21, 2025. Now, they haveannounced this scheme to avoid answering why they gave allowances tomaulvis and imams since 2013 and not to pujaris.”

Congress Delhi chief Devender Yadav said in a statement: “…The Delhi government and the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) do not have the money to repair the broken roads, the city chokes with uncleared garbage. Vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria have been on the rise, government hospitals are in a despicable condition without equipment, medicines and necessary staff and many other woes facing the people, for which Kejriwal has no answer.”