If the BJP doesn’t win 400+ seats in the Lok Sabha election, this summer, don’t blame the three Ms—Mandir, Modi, or Media. All three—Ram Mandir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Indian media have done everything possible to help install a BJP rajya in the country, for a third successive term.
They ensured that the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya was a red carpet event, seen across the world—‘live’ in at least 300 locations, globally, boasted India Today; they successfully converted the ‘pran pratishtha’ into a ceremony for a ‘world cultural awakening’ (ABP News)—“a little India everywhere” (DD News).
The media saw it as the dawn of a new era: The Indian Express didn’t bother with words to fete the occasion: its lead headline the next day, 23 January, was stark date: ‘January 22, 2024’.
For India Today, it was the ‘Coming of the 2nd Republic’; for Times Now, ‘the sanatan renaissance’; and for Republic TV, `the beginning of ‘a civilisational state’.
This ‘Ayodhya moment’ (Republic TV) saw a 500-year-old dream come true (News Nation), a ‘majestic temple for India’ clearing the clouds and allowing the sun to peep through—‘even prakriti [nature] is with us,” said the CNN News 18 anchor, Sunday. This is also a marvel of astrophysics: as Zee News explained it, the Ram Mandir had been so designed as to allow ‘surya kiran’ (sun rays) to shine on Ram Lalla.
Also read: When channels aren’t chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, they are following Modi—ignoring Rahul Gandhi
Media left no stone unturned
It’s been almost a month since the media, especially television news, trained its camera on Ayodhya—all day and all night during the last fortnight. For the millions of people who could not be physically present in Ayodhya, the channels brought Ram right into their homes, to the accompaniment of bhajans, shlokas, and words of celestial praise: it was “magical” (India TV); ‘momentous’ (NDTV 24×7); ‘divine’ (India Today); ‘something fantastic’ (Republic).
Over the top? Perhaps. Excessive? Maybe. But when ‘Ram returns’ (NDTV 24×7) and brings in his wake so much advertising, why would the media not take advantage of the ‘momentous moment’ (CNN News 18)?
On 22 January, newspapers such as The Times of India and Hindustan Times carried 10-12 pages of full-page colour advertisements, linked to the consecration. News channels were constantly taking a “short break” for TV commercials, many of which came from state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, etc, or had ‘Modi sarkar ki guarantee’ written all over them. So, it wasn’t just ‘Diwali in Ayodhya’ (India TV) but a festival of money for the media too. No wonder the Times Now Navbharat anchor in Ayodhya turned up in a fine saffron kurta and recited religious texts while a CNN News 18 anchor warmed himself with a saffron coloured muffler.
No wonder, channels left no stone of Ayodhya unturned in their consecration coverage. Sculptors, architects, builders have been interviewed across channels and in newspapers. The police, the district authorities got their sound bytes and every other person in a saffron dhoti and long grey beard has been interviewed as a ‘seer’.
We toured the inside of the temple with news channels, admired Ram’s jewellery—including a necklace of ‘5,000 American diamonds’ (India Today)—and sang bhajans with Swati Mishra, Anuradha Paudwal, Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher, etc.
The people of Ayodhya have got a look in too—they had “tears in their eyes”, said the India Today anchor. Visitors from Gujarat, Karnataka, Mumbai and festivities in Jammu, Gangotri, Bengaluru (TV9 Bharatvarsh) have also been highlighted to reiterate the point that this is a nationwide celebration.
Also read: Ramayan is back on Indian TV—this time on news channels
A star-studded show in Ayodhya
We have left the most important person of the temple consecration for the last—Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Without him, the media coverage would have been lacking its lead character. But his visits from one temple to another in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu—all of which were linked to Ram—gave news channels the chance to follow him around until he finally landed in Ayodhya. Undoubtedly, PM Modi was the high priest of the event—no detail about him was too small to catch the eagle eye of the media. India Today told us how he rose at 3 am to chant and pray, slept on a blanket and subsisted on coconut water. He was keeping a “vow” that had shaped his career, the channel said.
“The moment we have been waiting for has arrived,” said the NewsNation anchor as Modi’s helicopter hovered over Ayodhya city. We were shown visuals of the temple as seen “from the PM’s eyes”, said Times Now.
From then on, Modi was the centre attention as he walked, a solitary figure, towards the temple, climbed its stairs and entered the sanctum sanctorum to perform the religious rites—prostrated himself and, later, delivered a stirring speech—“Historic Ram moment,” said NDTV 24×7.
In the crowds outside were many celebrities, including the Bollywood brigade. The news channels were delighted: they caught up with actor Kangana Ranaut, who made a moving speech about her own spiritual journey (Times Now), Rajinikanth, Anupam Kher, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Jackie Shroff, Katrina Kaif, Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana, Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Vivek Oberoi, Hema Malini, Arun Govil (who played Ram in Doordarshan’s Ramayan) and of course Amitabh Bachchan along with son Abhishek. The TV cameras couldn’t get enough of Amitabh even if it was the back of his head, for most of the time.
Zee News found Anil Kumble in the mela of invitees. “A wonderful feeling,” said the former cricketer, admitting it was his first visit to Ayodhya. And why, there was Sachin Tendulkar too…
If all of this — a deity, a superstar prime minister, Bollywood’s biggest blockbuster actors, cricket’s little master, and media circus—isn’t enough to get you to vote BJP, perhaps an astrologer can: asked by Aaj Tak which political leader’s future was brighter, Modi’s or Rahul Gandhi’s, the soothsayer in Nashik promptly replied: “Modi”.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)