AAP’s Punjab play book: Party turns to Ashutosh Rana-starrer ‘Humare Ram’ to keep BJP in check

“The idea is to build a religious-cultural platform that helps the party remain visible among Hindus,” an AAP leader said, even as the party has officially maintained that the proposal was accepted only to “promote cultural heritage and social harmony”.

According to the National Centre for Performing Arts, the play brings several scenes from the Ramayana that have never been shown on stage. It begins from the perspective of Lord Ram’s sons Luv and Kush after their mother, Goddess Sita, “takes the final refuge in the arms of Bhumi”. The angry sons then pose certain questions about their mother to Lord Ram.

The move to stage the play is being viewed as the AAP’s attempt to check the rise in support for the BJP among Hindus, who form around 38% of Punjab’s population and are largely concentrated in urban centres such as Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, and Patiala.

What explains the outreach

The AAP’s carefully crafted Hindu outreach began in November 2024 with the appointment of Aman Arora, a Hindu, as the president of its state unit. Arora replaced Mann, a Sikh who had held the post since January 2019. The move, by a party traditionally seen as drawing support from Sikh and rural voters, was viewed as an attempt to expand its footprint among Hindus as well as in urban areas, where the BJP is perceived to be gaining ground.

While still a marginal force in the Assembly, the BJP’s vote share grew from 6.6% in the 2022 Assembly polls to over 18% in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The AAP, on the other hand, saw its vote share slip to 26.2% in the Lok Sabha polls, down from the 42% it had secured in the 2022 Assembly elections.

“Since the Lok Sabha polls, the AAP is confident of its support base in rural areas. However, the urban Hindu vote is a bit of a worry,” an AAP leader said, adding that the party would be further cornered if the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) tied up.

Around the same time as Arora’s appointment, the party also backed the newly launched Sanatan Seva Samiti headed by Deepak Bali, with senior AAP leaders such as Arora and state minister Barinder Goyal participating in its events.

The proposal to stage free shows of Humare Ram is said to be the brainchild of Bali, who has also served as the head of the cultural affairs committee and as chairman of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. “There is no Hindu outreach. We respect all communities and castes equally. The AAP believes in inclusivity and winning voters’ hearts through good work and governance,” Bali said.

In yet another move by the AAP seen as wooing Hindus, Mann said in May 2025 that his government would bring in the Hindu Temples Act, giving temples the right to manage their own affairs without government interference. The CM’s assurance came after repeated representations on the issue by the board’s chairman, Mahant Ravikant Muni.

Such a law would address a long-standing demand of the Punjab Hindu Welfare Board, which has been seeking an autonomous body to manage temples in the state since 2012.

In August last year, the Mann government set up 14 caste-based welfare boards, most of which catered to Hindu communities such as Brahmins, Aggarwals, Rajputs, Prajapatis, Kanojias, Swarnakars and Vimukt Jatis, among others. Even as some boards cover more than one community—such as the Saini and Ramgarhia Board—and a few cater to minorities, the emphasis on Hindu caste groupings has not gone unnoticed.

The AAP has also turned to symbolic religious visibility as part of its outreach. In late 2024, the party held a Shukrana Yatra (thanksgiving procession) from Patiala to Amritsar, with halts at prominent Hindu temples such as the Kali Mata temple, the Durgiana temple and Ram Tirath. Mann himself visited several Hindu temples during the yatra.