Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal has taken forward the long-running debate over the picture on the Indian currency. A few days ago, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had talked about putting pictures of Lakshmi and Ganesh on the rupee in a program. Now Arvind Kejriwal has also said the same thing. He has said that this thing came to his mind while worshiping Lakshmi on the occasion of Diwali. After saying this, his party held a press conference and said that this is not just the suggestion of Arvind Kejriwal, but the suggestion of 130 crore people of the country. Don’t know who made Kejriwal the representative of 130 crore people?
However, this debate has come to an end with Kejriwal’s suggestion. Its political aspects are in their place, but his suggestion has raised the question whether a picture should be printed on the other side of the rupee? On one side there is a picture of Mahatma Gandhi, which Kejriwal said should be retained and on the other side there is a picture of Lakshmi and Ganesh. Before this, leaders of BJP and many Hindu organizations have been demanding since a few days ago that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s picture should also be displayed on the rupee because his contribution in the freedom struggle is also no less than that of Mahatma Gandhi.
So, before the issue of the picture of Lakshmi and Ganesh came up, the issue of installing the picture of Subhash Chandra Bose has come. Even before that, there was a large group on social media, who demanded to put Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s picture. When Kejriwal suggested to put the picture of Lakshmi and Ganesh, many people said that the picture of Savarkar should not be seen, hence Kejriwal has suggested this. So, the proposal of Netaji, Savarkar and Lakshmi and Ganesh has come to put a picture on the rupee.
If you look at the two strongest and most popular currencies in the world – Dollar and Pound, then they have pictures of different people on them. Each pound has a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on the front, and the pound of different denominations has pictures from Alan Turing to Winston Churchill on the other side. After the death of the Queen, the picture may change and King Charles III may be printed. There are also pictures of George Washington to Abraham Lincoln on different dollar denominations. So, in India also, keeping the photo of Mahatma Gandhi on one side on the rupee of different denomination, on the other hand the picture of other great men can be put. As said by Kejriwal, the picture of Lakshmi and Ganesh can also be put.
