A Politically Incorrect Cultural Icon

When the lockdown began in March 2020, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry came up with the splendid news of re-telecasting the extremely popular Ramayana and Mahabharata on Doordarshan, two of the highest viewed shows in the history of television. First telecasted on 25th January 1987, it was the most expensive show at that time with a budget of ₹9 lakhs per episode. A brainchild of Ramanand Sagar who had been planning such a show since the 70s, it emerged to earn a consistent viewership as compared with other contemporary soap operas of those era like Hum Log and Buniyad.

A show which could effectively portray the bests of Indian culture unfortunately had catastrophic political implications. The Rajiv Gandhi government of the day inspite of having a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha was growing quite unpopular owing to reasons such as the Shah Bano Case, the Bofors Scandal and the gradual fading of the Indira Gandhi sympathy. The Ram Janmabhoomi movement too was gradually gaining momentum. Amidst these circumstances, the immature leadership decided to go ahead with the production of a show on these legendary epics. It was a callous move which former Prime Ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri or Indira Gandhi would have never committed. This was devised to be an act to counter the people's discontentment with the Government and the then I&B Secretary SS Gill took credit for this idea publicly in a newspaper article. 

Arun Govil and Deepika Chikhalia as Sri Ram and Sita respectively.

This idea didn't spark a very positive response amongst the producers and officials in the Doordarshan which at that point was the only television network other than being the Government channel. Arvind Rajagopal in his book ‘Politics after Television' writes that it violated the secular standpoint a national channel was obligated to stick to. Sharad Dutt, a producer with the DD and one of the first to review Sagar's tape testified that the contents were enough to shake most of those who watched it. According to him, the show was unlike those telecasted by the channel and seemed more like a Ram-Leela broadcast rather than being a film adaptation.

The pilot episode of the Ramayana was shot at Gujarat long before DD commisoned it. Sagar had approached the DD many times but his idea was rejected sometimes at the last moment until in 1987 when he was asked whether he could present an episode under a two weeks deadline. Prem Sagar, the son of the creator recalled that the show was hurriedly created with some of the actors being chosen within a week they appeared on the show.

The 75 episode long show spanning over a year or so, had a magical effect on Indians both at home and abroad across all religions. Writing for the BBC, Soutik Biswas noted that people would bathe and garland their television sets before the show began. Eminent author, William Dalrymple had written, "In villages across south Asia, hundreds of people would gather around a single set to watch the gods and demons play out their destinies. In the noisiest and most bustling cities, trains, buses and cars came to a sudden halt, and a strange hush fell over the bazaars. In Delhi, government meetings had to be rescheduled after the entire cabinet failed to turn up for an urgent briefing." The DD received countless letters thanking the administration for bringing their revered Gods and Goddesses to life.

The Creator of the show, Ramanand Sagar began his career at Bombay's Prithvi Theatre with Prithviraj Kapoor.

The show marked the end of the Nehruvian Secular era where religion was kept away and began an age of a flirtatious relationship between Religion and Politics. Casuing a Hindu Awakening, the show was capitalised by the RSS and the BJP in strengthening their Ayodhya Movement. The show recognised the Hindutva shift in Indian politics and Manik Sharma of the Hindusthan Times predicted an unprecedented turmoil that would befall upon the Indian polity. 

LK Advani's Rath Yatra (25th September 1990, Somnath-30th October 1990, Ayodhya) pioneered the cause of the Ram Janmabhoomi Andolan. His support base received a strong boost with the broadcast of the show. 

Sharma's prediction could not be anything but true. The actors of the serial were offered to campaign by both the Congress and the BJP and later Deepika Chikhalia (starring as Sita) and Arvind Trivedi(starring as Ravana) were elected to the Lok Sabha with BJP tickets in the 1991 General Elections. On August 28, 1989 thousands of Hindus congregated in the town of Milton Keynes, South Britain under a meeting titled 'Sammelan' calling upon all the Hindus to be associated with a greater Hindu reawakening and unanimously pushed the Ram Mandir agenda. On 25th September 1990, LK Advani began his iconic Rath Yatra from Somnath Temple ending at Ayodhya on 30th October accelerating the BJP's fortunes in the Hindi heartland states. Finally in 1992, the demolition of the Babri Masjid occured six years after the locks were opened for Hindus to worship changing Indian politics forever. The show had the effect the political commentators warned. It acted as the catalyst in the growth of communalism under the garb of reawakening that resulted in a political calamity that has plagued Indian politics thereafter. 

It must be noted that national channels particularly the BBC inspite of Britain having a state religion never produced a religious show on Christianity. However India to commit such a grevious error despite bragging to be a secular state was unpardonable especially since the broadcaster was of the Government and not of a private corporation. No one can deny that the show was cultural gem and is an icon and will remain so and the makers and broadcasters inspite of their initial skepticisms were never communal in their mindsets. The fault lies with the Government for misusing a state broadcaster in trying to adavance its popularity ultimately ending up in spreading a disease in Indian politics, which perhaps can never ever be vaccinated.