An Indian Minister Wants to Put Pictures of Goddess Lakshmi on Rupee Notes to Boost the Economy

India is currently facing one of its worst economic slowdowns, with inflation on the rise, GDP on the slump, and the value of the rupee continuing to fall. Luckily for us, one Indian minister has come up with a solution (one that doesn’t involve cows for a change). Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy has said that printing new currency notes with pictures of goddess Lakshmi—who is generally associated with good fortune and prosperity—could help improve the condition of the Indian currency.

When asked by reporters at a lecture in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, January 14, about his views on Indonesia adopting the symbol of Hindu god Ganesha on their currency notes, he said, “I am in favour (of this). Lord Ganesha removes obstacles. I rather say that a picture of Goddess Lakshmi (on currency notes) may improve the condition of Indian currency. Nobody should feel bad about this.”

This is the same guy who just last week said that he should be made the country’s finance minister because he felt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not understand economics. He is also the guy who once said that Muslims should just accept that they are descendants of Hindus, and that their property rights don’t matter above the fundamental rights of Hindus. He also recently fuelled the rumours that the Deepika Padukone-starrer Chhapaak based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal had given a Hindu name to a Muslim attacker, claims which fell flat once the movie released and people realised that no religion had been changed.

Well, at least he’s not suggesting cow dung can solve the farmers’ crisis like some of his other political counterparts. If India made a penny every time a political leader said a stupid thing, we wouldn’t even be facing a downturn.

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