Arvind Kejriwal At Hanuman Temple For Divine Aid As Delhi Readies To Vote

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP MP Manoj Tiwari spent the hours before voting begins on Saturday morning seeking last-minute divine intervention and help from above. The two, who have waged a bitter war on social media while campaigning for Assembly elections in the national capital, each visited a Hanuman temple this evening; Mr Kejriwal was spotted at the temple in Connaught Place in Central Delhi and Mr Tiwari was seen at a temple in Kalkaji in South Delhi.

Mr Kejriwal's visit comes days after he told a television news channel that he is a "Hanuman bhakt", a claim for which he was promptly targeted by the BJP's Yogi Adityanath and Prakash Javadekar. The AAP chief claimed to be a regular visitor and recited a devotional hymn in front of a cheering audience.

On Thursday, Mr Javadekar tweeted in response. "AAP is in trouble in Delhi elections, so Arvind Kejriwal is now remembering the "Sankat Mochan,", the Union Minister wrote in an acerbic tweet, tagging Home Minister Amit Shah, among others.

"Sankat Mochan" is often referred to Lord Hanuman by the Hindus, who believe that the recitation of the "Hanuman Chalisa" acts as a shield against any kind of crisis.

Mr Kejriwal's declaration came after the BJP launched wave after wave of vitriolic attacks on the Chief Minister, labelling him a "terrorist" and accusing his government of supporting anti-citizenship law protesters at Shaheen Bagh.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari was seen at a Hanuman temple in Kalkaji in South Delhi

The BJP has sought to make the Shaheen Bagh protests the focus of its campaign, arguing that the weeks-long peaceful agitation against a law seen as discriminating against Muslims and violating secular tenets of the Constitution is a danger to national security.

On Thursday Union Minister Giriraj Singh lashed out and said Shaheen Bagh had become a breeding ground for suicide bombers plotting against the country.

Another BJP leader - parliamentarian Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma - made similarly shocking remarks; he said: "They (the protesters) will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them".

Mr Verma, along with Chief Minister Adityanath, Union Minister of State Anurag Thakur and BJP leader Sambit Patra, have all come under the scrutiny of the Election Commission for hate speeches targeting Mr Kejriwal and the Shaheen Bagh protesters.

Over 200 women have participated in a weeks-long, sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh against the citizenship law

Mr Kejriwal's response - his visit to the Hanuman Temple - has been seen by many as a "brilliant counter-strategy to the BJP's politics of Hindutva".

On Wednesday he also took a swipe at those who attacked him for reciting the hymn, saying: "Me reading the Hanuman Chalisa is hurting BJP leaders".

Delhi votes for its 70-member Assembly on Saturday, with results due three days later.

The AAP, currently in power, is hoping to replicate its performance from 2015; it won 67 seats, leaving only three for the BJP and none for a Congress that had previously been in power for 15 straight years.

With input from ANI, IANS