It’s the Ramayan, once more.
We’re seated before a TV screen or scrolling through an iPad or smartphone and behold! Lord Ram appears before us (India Today). Bhajans play out to welcome him (CNN News 18?); white-bearded swamis in orange dhotis recite shlokas (NewsNation), the bells ring out. Suddenly, we are at the Saryu river, admiring the abode of god (Aaj Tak): “Shri Ram temple rises,” proclaims India Today and “devotees are flocking to Ayodhya from across the world” (CNN News 18). And there we were to witness the ‘rebirth and renaissance’ of Ram Lalla. (Times Now).
Welcome to news television’s version of the mythological epic, 2024—or as Zee News said, ‘Ayodhya mein Diwali’. “The darshan world is hooked,” claimed Times Now—and so were the news channels. The “return of Ram to his rightful home” has made the news channels holier than thou—each one competing with the other in a display of piety.
It’s an Ayodhya show
Since last Saturday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ayodhya to inaugurate many projects, including the new international airport, we have watched in wonder as almost all the news channels, in Hindi and in English, devoted themselves to “celebrating Diwali” (CNN News 18). Such was their devotion that channels such as R.Bharat and India TV chanted “Jai Shri Ram” through their headlines.
Editors and reporters from each channel have been stationed in Ayodhya to bring us the “most immersive coverage” of the countdown to the consecration of Ram Mandir on 22 January (Times Now). “Chalo, the call has come,” (Times Now Navbharat); ‘Ram Lalla is coming,’ promised Aaj Tak.
Some channels had a calendar of events leading up to 22 January (DD News, TV9 Bharatvarsh). Others are counting the days—’19 days’, said Times Now—and even hours before the ‘historic moment’: ‘504 hours to go,’ Zee News calculated on Monday, sounding like an ISRO announcer at Sriharikota at the XPoSat launch, Monday.
And this was simply the beginning of the ‘mega non-stop coverage” (CNN News 18) of the ‘Ram Mandir Utsav’ (Times Now) on television—spellbound, we watched as if in a trance only to be occasionally interrupted by “Hello Moto’ advertisements.
In Ayodhya, Aaj Tak’s Shweta Singh was in deep conversation with seers or Ramdev—some sang, some chanted and at least one told us about the many difficulties Lord Ram had faced, with such equanimity.
TNNB found a Muslim basti where the maulana chanted Ram, CNN News 18 drove around Ayodhya and chanced upon a market where the shutters were down—the reporter was enchanted by the religious symbols painted on each one. Republic TV found a craftsman producing miniature models of the new temple. Zee News followed Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers on a door-to-door distribution of prasad—it also gave us a grand tour of outdoor tent hotel rooms created for the occasion—let me tell you, they looked very swanky and comfortable.
TV news’ temple tour
We toured the new temple constructed for ‘Ram’s Return’ from above, from below and sideways, and learnt about its dimensions, area, structure over 2.7 acres; three floors, each 20 feet high (CNN News 18). And India TV discovered…guess what? A 108-inch agarbatti created just for this consecration, in Vadodara.
All the channels spoke to the local people – basically, all of them expressed the same thought in different words: they had been waiting for this, it was the best time of their lives.
So, what was there left to tell us?
Only the entire history of Ayodhya, which TV9 Bharatvarsh did; and only the most important element of the celebration: the Ram idol to be placed inside the temple sanctum sanctorum. On Tuesday, Arun Yogiraj from Karnataka became something of a TV icon for a few hours when it was announced that his 51-inch Ram idol was the chosen one. He and his family were the centre of attention—Aaj Tak, for example, visited them– they dutifully posed.
Ah yes, politics. Plenty of that, according to the news channels. “Politics over the Ram temple rages on,” announced Republic TV after a minister in the Congress government in Karnataka claimed the construction of the Ram temple was a political stunt like the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir just before the 2019 general election—40 CRPF personnel were killed in the attack.
CNN News 18 had a Shiv Sena leader say the party had made many sacrifices for the Ram Mandir but that the BJP was playing politics now. All channels gave prominence to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s comment that he will visit Ayodhya when God wishes it, not the BJP.
‘Ram on Bharat’s mind,’ stated Times Now. This may or may not be true but Ayodhya will certainly be very much on news channels until the 22 January. This will delight newspapers and online news portals so can monopolise all the news from India and the world while the news channels attain moksha in Ayodhya.
The good news? The stars are aligned to make this a truly auspicious year for the country: according to one fortune teller on Bharat Express, ‘Bharat’s kundali’ in 2024 would see it rise to even greater heights. Is that because ‘Ram aa rahe hain’ (Aaj Tak)?
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)