Delhi's new Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has always been wedded to secular values, Saturday thanked gods of India's four major religions - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism - for the "miracle" that brought him and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to power.
At least thrice in his inaugural speech at the crowded Ramlila Maidan, he thanked god for the AAP's maiden electoral victory.
"I thank the Supreme Father, Ishwar, Allah, Waheguru," said the Haryana-born Kejriwal who went to missionary schools and grew up in a family wedded to religious values.
Speaking after being sworn in as Delhi's seventh - and youngest - chief minister, he said to cheers from the crowd: "This victory is really a miracle, we could not even have thought two years back such a revolution would come, that we would be able to uproot the corrupt parties and real democracy would be established.
"This victory is not because of us, it is a miracle, and I thank 'Bhagwan, Ishwar and Allah'," he said.
He again remembered god, seeking divine blessings to fulfill his responsibility.
"The way expectations of people of Delhi have raised, we feel scared at times. I pray to god... The results are not in our hands, but god may give us good sense, and courage so that we don't make any mistake, knowingly or unknowingly," he said.
Making another reference, he thanked god for the support the movement got from public.
"When Anna Hazare was fasting, people from all across the country came on to the streets. I wondered how it happened, it must have been a miracle of 'Bhagwan, Allah, Ishwar'," he repeated.
In a 2006 speech while accepting the Ramon Magsaysay award in Manila, Kejriwal disclosed that he went to church while studying in missionary schools and there were regular discourses on Hindu moral teachings in the family.
The Kejriwal family also religiously observed Hindu rituals and festivals.
"Up to my 10th or 12th class, I was extremely religious," he said in the speech. "I used to spend a lot of time praying, while lying down in bed, in the morning when I got up, any time I get during the day."
Religion did take a back seat while he was in college but he went down the spiritual path again as an adult.
