Divine Dividend: The 'Ram' In Meerut

On April 13, 2024, the villagers of Hapur district, Uttar Pradesh, welcomed an unusual guest. They poured out of their homes and flooded the streets. Some stood on the terraces, admiring the view. They smiled at him, clicked his photos, showered him with petals. They screamed slogans, sang songs, and danced. Arun Govil had flipped the conventions of devotion: Lord Ram had come to meet his devotees. Standing in a car, Audi Q7, almost as wide as the cramped gullies, he folded his hands and waved at them, as the songs praising Ram, blaring from the loudspeakers, sliced the air. Govil, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Meerut, presented a unique opportunity for the party바카라�s supporters. When they chanted 바카라�Jai Shri Ram바카라� in his presence, it performed multiple functions: venerating Govil바카라�s role as Ram in Ramayan (1987), linking Hindu mythology to the BJP, and tying the God to the prime minister (who had said three months ago that his 바카라�government draws inspiration from Lord Ram바카라�).

Around two-thirty in the afternoon, a man handed Govil a bow and an arrow. Not long after, a gold-coloured mace. Two teenage boys ambled to his car and touched his feet. 바카라�Our future member of parliament, our popular leader, Ramayan바카라�s Ram-ji is here,바카라� informed the frequent announcements, tying the past and the present, the person and the persona. Sometimes they removed the Ramayan reference and straight-up declared 바카라�our Ram-ji바카라�, connecting Govil바카라�s victory to Modi바카라�s to the BJP바카라�s manifesto: making India the third-largest economic power by 2047.

Amid the glowing promise of the future stood a man stuck in time: Govil바카라�1987, Ram; 2024, Ram. Like an actor in a biopic that refuses to end, like a mortal condemned to be God. An actor who had played diverse characters for a decade till 1987, he got fewer roles after the mythological series, as Bollywood filmmakers, revering a formula and an image, couldn바카라�t see him beyond Ram. But what failed in cinema can excel in politics. Because the charged rhetoric of the BJP, often invoking the past, uses temporal elasticity to weave new dreams and open old wounds: the 바카라�century-old slavery바카라�, the Islamic invaders, the Ram rajya.

If Govil-the actor is frozen in time, then Govil-the leader is frozen in the car: He neither talks to the voters nor walks with them. He doesn바카라�t unveil his promise, optimism, or ambition. Like his enigmatic smile in the TV series, he바카라�s an enigma himself. In early April, when a reporter asked him whether he was aware of 바카라�Meerut바카라�s main issues바카라�, Govil said, 바카라�I haven바카라�t begun thinking about them, my friend. I바카라�m focusing on elections right now.바카라� When asked the same question on camera a week later, he remained as vague.

바카라�Journalists often ask me about the issues I바카라�ll fight the elections on,바카라� he told me in the evening in his car on the way to Meerut. 바카라�Arre, I don바카라�t even have to open my mouth.바카라� He smiled. 바카라�The people who come to meet me [see me as Ram]; they don바카라�t say anything and neither do I. It바카라�s not required바카라�we바카라�ve a direct connection.바카라� On the day of the Ram temple consecration, a thought came to him바카라�바카라�I don바카라�t know how바카라�바카라�that he should do 바카라�jan seva바카라� [public service]. Unlike opening a non-profit, politics attracted him more. Besides, he chose the BJP because Modi바카라�s work impressed him, and his was the only party that spoke about 바카라�raashtravaad바카라�. 바카라�What do you call it in English?바카라� He asked me. 바카라�Nationalism?바카라� I said. He was taken back. 바카라�Patriotism?바카라� I gave a softer alternative. 바카라�No, let바카라�s stick to Hindi바카라�raashtravaad.바카라�

Since Govil always stayed in his car through the afternoon, it was impossible to follow him on foot. To keep pace, I hopped on the back of a pickup truck accommodating the BJP supporters. They chit-chatted, raised slogans, and bantered. A man cracked a sexist 바카라�joke바카라�; a woman shut him down. Soon, another man said, 바카라�This world has no ideal men, only Shri Ram.바카라� A woman replied, 바카라�Even He wasn바카라�t a complete man. He left his wife based on hearsay. No man should do that.바카라�

Govil had battled a similar dilemma, around three-and-a-half decades ago, in an interview with an American journalist, Jonah Blank. While praising many virtues of Ram, Govil also said, 바카라�What he does to his wife at the story바카라�s end, I could never do. What good husband would?바카라� But he still called Ram and Sita 바카라�the perfect couple바카라�. Sitting in the same living room, his wife, Lekha, clicked her tongue. 바카라�Perfect couple? Hardly. Ram is a fundamentally weak character바카라�, someone who had 바카라�doubt[ed] his wife바카라� and questioned her fidelity. 바카라�Why, if Arun treated me the way Ram treated Sita, I바카라�d hit him on the head with a frying pan!바카라�

The 바카라�Ram바카라� in Meerut, two weeks before the 2024 elections, elicited diverse views. 바카라�I only know him as an artist,바카라� said Suresh Rai near a roadside eatery. 바카라�If I바카라�ve seen him as Ram in Ramayan, then I바카라�ve also seen him in Bistar.바카라� He pulled up a photo on his phone: Govil in bed with a woman wrapped in a towel. The eatery바카라�s owners, Alok and Divya Dixit, didn바카라�t agree on politics: she liked Govil (바카라�for his life-long good character바카라�); her husband had last voted for Rajiv Gandhi.

바카라�I want Modi-ji to win, so I바카라�ll choose Arun Govil,바카라� said Anita, a few minutes after the actor entered her locality to eat breakfast at a Dalit family바카라�s home. She reeled off the government바카라�s benefits: 바카라�free cylinder and ration바카라� and 바카라�Modi-ji will give whatever else we need in the future바카라�. A young man at the end of her lane, Titu, said 바카라�communal violence바카라� and 바카라�crime rate바카라� had come down, roads had improved, and that he바카라�d vote for any BJP candidate due to 바카라�Yogi and Modi바카라�.

Even the other Meerut residents, outside a mall under construction, praised Modi, ranging from a private sector professional to the owner of a roadside stall, Graduate Kadhi Chawal, who, after his Bachelor of Arts degree, struggled to find meaningful employment. 바카라�It바카라�s not as if unemployment wasn바카라�t there before,바카라� he said, dissociating his personal condition from his political choice. In Meerut, Ram was the icing; Modi was the cake.

The billboards, too, reinforced the BJP바카라�s dominance. The ones with Arun Govil바카라�accompanied by the pictures of Modi, Yogi, and more than a dozen local leaders바카라�outnumbered the ones for the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the ratio 10:1 (with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) shrunk to a near-negligible presence). The SP had changed its candidates twice바카라�dropping Bhanu Pratap Singh and Atul Pradhan (with 38 criminal cases)바카라�and settled for the ex-mayor Sunita Varma whose name on the hoardings accompanied her caste in brackets, 바카라�(Jatav)바카라�. (The BJP, too, played that game: On the morning of April 13, Govil had eaten breakfast at a Jatav family바카라�s home, sitting on the floor.)

But the people of Meerut who disapproved of Govil (or Modi) flagged the same two concerns. 바카라�Modi-ji hasn바카라�t spoken about unemployment. The price hike has gone out of control바카라�petrol, diesel, onion,바카라� said Sanjeev Balyan, a civil contractor and an erstwhile farmer. 바카라�Only rich businessmen are reaping the benefits of this government.바카라� On the one hand, added Balyan, the government boasted about the booming economy, but on the other, 바카라�it바카라�s giving free food grains to 80 crore people바카라�. Even he believed, though, that Govil would win.

The BJP rally tearing through the Hapur villages demonstrated its confidence. It didn바카라�t look like an election campaign but a victory march바카라�topped off by dhol beats. Govil didn바카라�t contribute much바카라�and he didn바카라�t have to바카라�because he had Hindutva pop. One after the other, its songs amplified the BJP바카라�s message바카라�the celebration of Lord Ram, the assertion of Hindu identity, the promise of developed India바카라�drowning its supporters in endless frenzy. Wearing Yogi and Modi masks, some even at the back of their heads, they danced on the streets holding the BJP flags. The Hindutva songs at the rally, departing from the tradition of bhajans or soft melody, blended heavy techno and aggressive vocals바카라�the new anthems of, as some numbers made it clear, the 바카라�Hindu rashtra바카라�.

But whenever the rally snaked through a Dalit-dominated village, the Hindutva pop stopped, so did the Jai Shri Ram chants. The campaign settled on a more staid style instead, where a recorded announcement asked for votes in a sing-song voice, followed by, without fail, 바카라�Babasaheb Ambedkar amar rahein, Kanshi Ram amar rahein [long live Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram].바카라� Add and remove, plug and play: this election campaign could have been designed on MS Excel.

Like some politicians prone to ideological flip-flops, Govil바카라�s political profile, no matter how limited, has also swung both ways. In the late 바카라�80s, he had campaigned for the Congress party (in Ram바카라�s costume). He reflected on that experience, remaining calm and soft-spoken, alternating between Hindi and English: 바카라�There was no motive or thought behind it. Mr Rajiv Gandhi called and asked me to meet him. Now who will say no to a Prime Minister?바카라� Gandhi even offered him a 바카라�by-election seat in Faridabad바카라�, but Govil declined because he was shooting for Ramayan. 바카라�I바카라�d have won like this.바카라� He snapped his fingers thrice.

When the interview was done, I got down from the car, around 30 minutes from Meerut. Dusk had begun to fall and the relative quiet air바카라�no longer reverberating with Hindutva pop바카라�felt like a stark contrast. Among all the numbers, though, one had got stuck in my head바카라�a gentle bhajan recast into a muscular Hindutva mould, a song that tied it all together: 바카라�Ram naam ki loot hai, loot sake toh loot/antakaal pacchtayega jab pran jayenge chhoot [Loot whatever you can in the name of Ram/ otherwise regret will fill you moments before you die].바카라�

Tanul Thakur in Meerut

This appeared in the print as 'Divine Dividend'