Ramayan’s Ram, Arun Govil eyeing debut win in Meerut

Meerut people seek actor and BJP LS candidate Arun Govil’s blessings, famous for playing Lord Ram in TV. Gujarat model his agenda as he debuts in politics.

Arun Govil, the veteran actor renowned for his portrayal of Lord Ram in the iconic television series ‘Ramayana’, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Meerut constituency as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This marks his debut in the political arena. The BJP has expressed confidence in Govil’s candidature, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath drawing parallels between Govil’s role as Lord Ram and the auspicious return of Lord Ram to his birthplace, especially highlighted during the recent Ram Navami celebrations.

Govil’s entry into politics has been met with enthusiasm by his supporters, who still associate him with the virtuous character he once portrayed on screen. Although some sections of BJP supporters opposed his candidature to replace threetime MP Rajendra Agarwal who has been holding the Meerut seat since 2004, but during his election campaign, the voters in Meerut are bowing to take blessings from him as the character of Ram.

Rajo Devi, a resident of Meerut, told The Sunday Guardian, “Although we are aware that Arun Govil isn’t actually Lord Ram, his depiction of the character in the epic inspires us to seek his blessings. It feels as though we are receiving blessings directly from Lord Ram, with Govil serving as a conduit for those divine blessings.”

Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party too have a memorable history in this constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there was fierce competition in Meerut. BJP’S Rajendra Agrawal secured 586,184 votes, while

Bahujan Samaj Party- Samajwadi Party (BSP-SP) candidate Haji Mohammad Yakub received 581,455 votes. There was a close contest between the two, and ultimately the victory went to Rajendra Agrawal. He won the election by a margin of 4,729 votes, and Congress’ Harendra Agrawal was in third place.

Meerut is a well-known name worldwide for its excellent products related to sports. Additionally, it is a major commercial centre in western Uttar Pradesh. The Meerut region is considered to have a dominant presence of Dalit and Muslim voters. In the 2019 elections, the Muslim population here was around 564,000. The Jat community also plays a significant role here, with a population of around 314,788.

The Valmiki community has a population of around 59,000. There are also a considerable number of voters from the Brahmin, Vaishya, and Tyagi communities. The Jat population here is also around 130,000. The voters from the Gurjar and Saini communities also show significant influence here.

The Samajwadi Party first fielded Bhanu Pratap but replaced him with Sardhan MLA Atul Pardhan, belonging to the Gurjar community; however, he too was finally replaced with Sunita Verma, a former mayor, because she is a Dalit candidate and Meerut is home to around four lakh Dalits. The BSP has fielded Devvrat Tyagi, the only Hindu candidate in the Muslim-dominated constituency. The Muslim-dalit equation helped the BSP-SP last time, but both going single might see a split of votes in favour of Arun Govil.

Also, both SP and BSP candidates are calling Govil an outsider, but Govil, being born in Meerut, is using this narrative to counter this narrative.

The BJP on other hand is pushing its development model with Meerut being the centre of those infrastructure developments including the RRTS project which provides fast connectivity to Delhi.

Also the Meerut Expressway is the highlight in the BJP’S campaign.