Gone are the days of agricultural advice on Doordarshan; now it’s time for religious awakening. Krishi Darshan, the DD programme launched in the late 1960s, gave agriculture information to farmers for around 20 minutes. And while it will continue to provide information on fisheries and rural development relevant to the farming community, the focus will now be elsewhere—in evoking interest only among followers of Ram with the daily telecast of Ayodhya aarti every morning. Ram Lalla’s daily morning aarti is the new Krishi Darshan.
Doordarshan is certainly going to give some tough competition to Aastha channel, but it will lag behind on the issue of diversity—no, not the general kind but diversity within Hinduism. Broadcasting only the morning aarti of Ram Lalla would amount to utter discrimination against hundreds of thousands of other Hindu gods, not to mention hurting the sentiments oftheir followers.
Doordarshan should be more egalitarian in its Hindu aarti programming. It should air rituals from Char Dham, Somnath, Kanchipuram, Kedarnath, Amarnath, Vaishno Devi, Kashi Vishwanath, Tirumala, and the various tribal gods and goddesses. It should also telecast preachings from Adi Shankaracharya and other Hindu saints and scholars.
मंगल भवन अमंगल हारी।
द्रवहु सुदसरथ अजिर बिहारी।।अब हर दिन होंगे प्रभु श्री रामलला के दिव्य दर्शन! देखिए अयोध्या में श्री रामलला मंदिर से नित्य आरती का #Live प्रसारण, प्रतिदिन प्रातः 6:30 बजे सिर्फ #DDNational पर।#Ayodhya | #RamMandir | #ShriRamJanmbhoomi pic.twitter.com/IPf5ljaNXW
— Doordarshan National दूरदर्शन नेशनल (@DDNational) March 11, 2024
Are we surprised?
During the consecration of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya on 22 January, India witnessed schools, universities and offices being shut. Hospitals were spared in the eleventh hour. News channels and residential societies were broadcasting the prayers performed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Now, with the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the regular airing of Ram Lalla’s aarti on Doordarshan doesn’t come as a surprise. The establishment of Ram Mandir was an old Hindu nationalist dream and a long-standing promise of the political party currently in power. So, the aarti serves as the constant reminder of the fulfilment of that dream.
The 6.30 am daily aarti is unlikely to attract the GenZ, even millennials. They hardly watch TV. Netflix is their go-to platform, or better still, Instagram reels.
But the BJP is targeting the middle-aged, devout Hindu men and women who are going to cast their votes in a few months. If the powers that be at DD have decided to make Hinduism their selling point, then they should show everything. Why stop at Ayodhya? After all, it’s a national election, not Uttar Pradesh assembly election. And at least for now, we don’t have a national god.
So, this definitely begs a question: Should a public broadcaster, funded by the taxpayers’ money, cater exclusively to the interests of one religion and one deity?
DD airing religious prayer exclusively from one faith not only goes against the very principle of secularism and inclusiveness but also highlights the misuse of public resources.
In the past, Doordarshan has run shows depicting the lives of Hindu gods such as Ganesh and Krishna, to name a few, but never has this channel run an aarti (prayer) — this would be a first.
But let’s be fair. Think of Hinduism as a diverse nation, with several gods, histories, and cultural representations. Every Hindu has their own favourite god. Shiva has a legion of followers, as does Krishna. With Ram Lalla given the centre stage, we are neglecting the very feature of Hinduism—its diversity. Let no god be left behind.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)