Arvind Kejriwal as ‘Shravan Kumar’, ‘Ram Rajya’: Why AAP deployed religious imagery in Delhi Budget

Ram, Ram Rajya, and Ramayana. Delhi Finance Minister Atishi mentioned the three at least 40 times in 90 minutes while presenting the Delhi government’s Rs 76,000-crore Budget on Monday, underlining the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) own Hindutva pitch ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to counter the BJP’s narrative.

Throughout her speech on the Budget, Atishi said the Budget was “inspired” by Ram Rajya and the Ramayana, and that the AAP had been “working day and night for the past nine years to establish Ram Rajya” in Delhi. “Whenever Ayodhya is described, it is said that there is no other city as beautiful and prosperous as Ayodhya across the world. Today, under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, we are also working hard in Delhi to bring prosperity as it was in Lord Ram’s Ayodhya,” Atishi said. She added that the government believes poverty can be eradicated by providing good quality education to every child.

Claiming that hospitals and other infrastructure in Delhi were in poor condition when the AAP came to power, Atishi equated former Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who was accused of corruption and is out on interim bail, to Lord Hanuman for his work. “Like Lord Hanuman brought the Sanjeevani Booti in the hour of crisis, my elder brother (Jain) revolutionised the healthcare system of Delhi.”

Asked about the AAP’s “Ram Rajya” pitch, which was also a theme of the party’s 2019 Lok Sabha campaign, Kejriwal said, “We believe in Ram Rajya … We have mentioned the concept in several Budget presentations … even during Manish’s (former finance minister Manish Sisodia) time.”

Across its social media pages, the AAP is running “Kejriwal ka Ram rajya” hashtags and posting highlights of the 2024-’25 Budget with bow-and-arrow