The BJP is apparently losing touch with the gods of small things. While mythological heroes and villains descended from their sets and did their bit for the party a few years ago, their beneficence is a little strained now. The ten-headed Ravan has retreated to the background after being fielded by the party about a decade ago. Ram is yet to make up his mind. Krishna has his tantrums — he will campaign for the BJP but is not keen on contesting unless higher powers intervene. Sita did the vanishing act after she was voted to power in 1991. Nitish ‘Krishna’ Bhardwaj is put off by the media’s continuous harping about the ‘‘divine in him’’. ‘‘I don’t look at myself as Krishna,’’ he says, dismissing as untrue media reports about how he was weighed in ghee and butter and milk. What he does look at is the apparent lack of development in Madhya Pradesh. Of course, he was once in the saddle in MP but ‘‘things don’t change overnight’’. Bhardwaj, who contested twice, once from Jamshedpur (1996) where he won and the other time from Rajgarh (1999) where he lost to Digvijay Singh’s brother Laxman Singh, says he prefers to work from outside. ‘‘I did not lose out terribly. Development issues are close to my heart and I would like to focus on infrastructure which is sadly lacking in Madhya Pradesh,’’ Bhardwaj said. Arun Govil who played Ram in the epic-drama Ramayan says he campaigned for the Congress in the past for personal reasons. ‘‘I did it for my friends.I have no friends in the BJP,’’ he said. ‘‘It is for us to decide whether we are being used for a larger good, or not.’’ Arvind Trivedi who played Ravan opposite Govil, says he will contest whenever asked to. An MP from Sabarkantha in the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991, Trivedi, who became chairman of the Censor Board last year, says he has campaigned for the party whenever asked to. ‘‘I am a Ram-bhakt and have even built a temple for Ram in my house,’’ said Trivedi, who lost the 1996 elections. He spends more time in his former constituency, Sabarkantha, ‘‘tackling issues’’ at the local level. ‘‘People still relate to me as Ravan though they treat me like Ram.’’ Deepika Chikalia, once in the role of Sita, had earlier told The Indian Express of her disillusionment with politics. The BJP might have lost out to Ram and Sita but it is gearing up for a new Kurukshetra altogether. The new line-up includes ‘‘dharmaraj’’ Yudishthir (Gajendra Chauhan) and Karna (Pankaj Dheer).
