The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Shri Sundarkand Paath event in Rohini, New Delhi, organised by former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, 12 July, drew fewer than 500 to 600 attendees, according to Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor — a turnout he described as a 'complete failure' at a venue that typically hosts religious gatherings of thousands.

BJP's Charge: Low Turnout Despite Bus Deployment

Kapoor alleged that the AAP pressed buses into service to ferry devotees to the Rohini pandal, yet still could not fill the venue. He claimed that even AAP workers stayed away, interpreting the thin attendance as a rejection of what he called Kejriwal's 'opportunistic display of devotion.'

'Not only the people of Delhi, but even AAP workers rejected Kejriwal's invitation to attend the Shri Sundarkand Paath, thereby, refusing to endorse what they described as his opportunistic display of devotion,' Kapoor said.

Senior AAP Leaders Absent from the Event

The BJP spokesperson noted that despite the event being announced well in advance, senior AAP figures — including former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena, former Minister Gopal Rai, and most of the party's MLAs — did not attend. The BJP argued their absence amounted to an internal repudiation of Kejriwal's 'Hindu Avatar' ahead of elections.

BJP Recalls 2024 Sundarkand Paath Pledges That Fizzled

Delhi BJP President Harsh Malhotra broadened the attack, alleging a pattern of religious outreach that the AAP launches before elections and then quietly shelves. He pointed to two specific instances from 2024: in January 2024, the then-AAP government conducted Shri Sundarkand Paath recitations in around 50 of Delhi's 70 Assembly constituencies but held only a handful of programmes thereafter before the initiative was abandoned. Separately, in March 2024, the AAP government announced simultaneous recitations at 2,600 locations across the city; Malhotra claimed the event did not take place at 26 of those locations.

Malhotra also cited Kejriwal's earlier remarks — in which the AAP leader, quoting his maternal grandmother, had said he did not wish to visit a temple he believed had been built after demolishing a mosque — as evidence of what the BJP characterises as inconsistency on religious matters. The BJP president further alleged that Kejriwal's embrace of Hindutva accelerated visibly after the consecration of the Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya in 2024.

The Political Context

The BJP's coordinated response — with both the party's Delhi spokesperson and its president issuing statements on the same day — signals a deliberate effort to frame the Rohini event as electoral posturing rather than genuine religious observance. Critics argue that such charges are themselves a form of competitive identity politics. The AAP has not yet issued a formal rebuttal to the BJP's claims about attendance figures or the 2024 programme lapses. With Delhi's political calendar heating up, the dispute over the Sundarkand Paath is likely a preview of the religious-outreach battles ahead.