Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference in New Delhi, on July 1, 2026,

| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party has only used Lord Ram’s name for political gains and claimed that the AAP is the true sanatani and has worked with genuine devotion towards its values. Addressing a press conference, Mr. Kejriwal said, “The Pran Pratishtha [consecration] ceremony at Prabhu Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya took place on June 22, 2024. Two and a half years have passed since then. To be precise, it has been 891 days. During these two and a half years, since the Shri Ram Mandir was inaugurated, the country’s ‘number two’, meaning the Home Minister, Amit Shah, has not visited the Shri Ram Mandir even once to bow before Bhagwan Shri Ram.”He claimed that during these 891 days, Mr. Shah has referred to the Ram Mandir more than 42 times in his speeches and interviews, and on most occasions sought votes in the name of Lord Ram and the Ram Mandir. “These people do not believe Bhagwan Shri Ramchandra ji is Bhagwan. If they did, they would never do chadhava-chori [stealing offerings] and steal donations made before Bhagwan. They would fear that Bhagwan is omnipresent, that he is watching their chadhava-chori, and that such an act would be a grave sin which would ruin their future and the lives to come,” he said. He said that every Sanatani is hurt and distressed by this theft and what has come to light so far is only a small glimpse of the total scale of it. “Today, only the Aam Aadmi Party is working with genuine devotion for Sanatan. Bhajan Sandhyas are being organised in every city of Punjab, with thousands of people participating. People are saying they have never seen anyone work for Sanatan in this manner before. Our government is facilitating free teerth yatra (pilgrimage) to Khatu Shyam Ji, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura Ji and Vrindavan Dham. When we were in government in Delhi, we also enabled people to visit Ayodhya ji and several other teerth sthals free of cost,” he said. Published - July 02, 2026 02:10 am IST