Gujarat Assembly polls: Banners calling Delhi’s CM Arvind Kejriwal 'anti-Hindu,' showing him wearing skull cap surfaces

New Delhi: Banners labelling Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "anti-Hindu" and depicting him wearing a skull cap appeared in several prominent Gujarat cities on Saturday, the day the AAP leader is in the state to campaign for his party ahead of the Assembly elections. Along with Kejriwal's images, some banners read, "I consider Hindu religion as madness" while others said, "anti-Hindu Kejriwal go back" These banners appeared in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara a day after a controversy erupted over a video clip showing Aam Aadmi Party Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam at a "religious conversion" event where hundreds could be heard taking an oath denouncing Hindu deities. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has condemned the minister and accused the AAP of offending Hindu sentiments. The banners said things like, "I consider Hindu religion to be madness," "I will not believe in Brahma, Vishnu, Ram, and Krishna," and "I will not perform shraddha pind daan' or any other Hindu ritual." All of the banners, however, shared a common sentence: "These are the words and culture of AAP."

Posters criticising the AAP and Kejriwal were destroyed by party members in Rajkot. Banners reading "anti-Hindu Kejriwal go back" were seen in Dahod town, where the Delhi Chief Minister and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann were scheduled to speak to a public gathering on Saturday. These two AAP leaders began their two-day visit to Gujarat on Saturday.

The political squabble erupted after a video clip of Gautam at a "religious conversion" event went viral, in which hundreds of people can be heard taking an oath to reject Hindu deities. Gautam is the Arvind Kejriwal government's social welfare minister. Around 10,000 people reportedly took vows to convert to Buddhism during the programme to follow Lord Buddha's teachings and give up the worship of Hindu deities.

Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, has been campaigning aggressively in Gujarat, making several promises.

The AAP has established itself as a major BJP contender in Gujarat, where Assembly elections are set to take place soon. The BJP said on Friday that people will teach the AAP a lesson in the upcoming Assembly elections because its Delhi minister Gautam took an oath denouncing Hindu deities. State Education Minister Jitu Vaghani said the AAP minister insulted Hindu deities, which are places of worship for the people of Gujarat, and urged Kejriwal to punish him by imprisoning him.