Rama & Rupee: Indian Politican Wants to Boost Economy By Putting Gods on Banknotes

At present, India's currency notes carry an image of the country's freedom struggle icon Mahatma Gandhi on the front, and the Indian parliament or famous historic monuments such as forts or temples on the other side.

In a creative and truly spiritual solution to fight inflation and deter economic losses, Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal has recently urged India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt his idea of printing images of the Hindu deities Ganesha and Lakshmi on banknotes.

On Wednesday, the Indian currency, the rupee, fell to a new low against the US Dollar, INR 83.75 per dollar - down 12 percent in the calendar year of 2022.

Kejriwal believes that India should follow the example of Indonesia, which carries Lord Ganesha's photograph on its currency, to bring the country’s “economic prosperity” back on track.

Millions of Hindus worship Ganesha as the God of luck, and Lakshmi as the Goddess of wealth.

“Our economy is not improving. We need to make multi-pronged efforts to develop our country. We need to build schools, hospitals, strengthen our power and roads infrastructure among other things. But our efforts will bear fruit only when we have the blessings of God upon us,” Kejriwal told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the country’s economy is going through a difficult phase, and the rupee is weakening against the greenback.

Kejriwal's idea hasn't been met with much enthusiasm from other politicians, including the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and India's major opposition party, Congress.

However, Kejriwal managed to secure at least one supporter: BJP politician Nitesh Rane and a lawmaker from Maharashtra’s Kankavli tweeted the photo of Maratha icon Chhatrapati Shivaji, captioned "Yeh perfect hai [this is perfect].”

It is not the first time a Hindu politician has suggested depicting the images of deities on currency notes: in January 2020, former BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy demanded exactly the same, saying that Lord Ganesha could remove any obstacles.

"I rather say that a picture of the Goddess Lakshmi [on currency notes] may improve the condition of Indian currency," he said back then.