Congress on Saturday announced free pilgrimage to Buddhist sites if the party wins the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi. Udit Raj, former Congress MP from North-West Delhi, said in a press conference that there are no plans for pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in Delhi as of now. He announced that free pilgrimage to Buddhist sites would be started if the Congress government is formed in the national capital.
Raj said that the Delhi government makes arrangements for pilgrimage to Tirupati, Ayodhya, Vaishno Devi, Balaji for senior citizens at its own expense.
“In such a situation, why is there no scheme for free pilgrimage to Buddhist sites like Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Lumbini, Deekshabhoomi, Mhow,” he asked. “If Congress comes to power in Delhi, we will not discriminate and will arrange free pilgrimage to Buddhist sites also,” Raj said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi had launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana’ in 2019 to provide free pilgrimage facilities to senior citizens to various pilgrimage sites in the country. Under this scheme, free pilgrimage is conducted to 15 religious places including Ayodhya, Dwarkadhish, Puri, Varanasi, Maa Vaishno Devi Dham, Ajmer Sharif, Rameshwaram, Shirdi, Tirupati Balaji and Amritsar.
Raj said that earlier the Congress had protested outside the residence of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and asked why he did not announce an honorarium of Rs 18,000 for Buddhist monks and priests of Ravidas and Valmiki temples.
Kejriwal had announced on December 30 that if AAP retains power in Delhi, the party will give a monthly honorarium of Rs 18,000 to temple priests and gurudwara granthis under the ‘Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana’. Elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5, while the counting of votes will take place on February 8.
