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'Blessings needed': Kejriwal on 'Lakshmi-Ganesh' comment row at HTLS| Video
Arvind Kejriwal had first made the appeal to include the photos of Lakshmi and Ganesha on currency notes days after Diwali.
Weeks after Arvind Kejriwal's comments - on including photographs of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha on currency notes - sparked a controversy, the Delhi Chief Minister recalled what he meant. In the final session of the five days long HT Leadership Summit 2022, Kejriwal on Saturday stressed that "blessings are needed to reap fruitful results". "We are just mere living beings. We put in a lot of efforts. But at times, we don't get results," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said, speaking at the HTLS 2022. "So we need hard work, yes, for what we seek. And we need God's blessings too. That's all I had said."
"What I meant was our country is dealing with multiple challenges. People across the country should work hard, governments too should work hard. But the efforts will reap results only when God showers his blessings. So what I had suggested was that if the currency notes carry the photos of Lakshmi - the Goddess of Wealth - and Ganesha, they will bless us," Arvind Kejriwal further shared, recalling the comment.
"I did not say that let's just put up photos on notes and go to our homes and sleep and don't do anything. Everything boils to Karma but results will be fruitful when Lord's blessings are there," the Delhi Chief Minister further elaborated.
Last month, amid controversy over his comments, the Delhi CM had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the matter. “I am not saying that this alone will improve the economy... many other efforts need to be undertaken... but those [efforts] will materialise if we have the blessings of gods and goddesses,” he had said, making an appeal "on behalf of 130 crore Indians".
He had first made the request two days after Diwali, which his critics linked to the elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
