© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Maintaining a distance from the media during campaigning, Kangana Ranaut, the first Bollywood celebrity to contest Lok Sabha elections from Himachal Pradesh, has, however, followed a simple strategy to shed her “outsider tag” – interacting with locals in their dialects, obliging to their selfie requests and daily temple visits.
Her opponent and the scion of the erstwhile Rampur estate, Vikramaditya Singh, has less to prove to the locals, who consider him as one of them.
In the Mandi LS seat, BJP’s ‘Queen’ and Congress’ ‘King’ are pitted against each other, but share a common thing – they are trying to stick to the age-old practice of ‘Devniti’ followed in the hill state.
While ‘Devniti’ could be loosely translated to the rule of the ‘Devta’ and is often juxtaposed with ‘rajneeti’ (rule of the king), the contenders have not shied away from taking the help of gods to ensure their victory.
Amid the mudslinging in Mandi seat, Vikramaditya has touched the sensitive religious chord of the people by alleging that temples where Kangana is visiting need to be purified owing to her food habits.
In Takoli, Vikramaditya said, “What she eats is against our culture. ‘Mandiro ki safai honi chahiye’ (Temples she has visited need to be purified). People of Devbhoomi are hurt over this.”
Kangana says her typical campaign day starts with paying obeisance at temples of local deities while videos of her dancing with local women and sweeping temple premises have gone viral.
The temple run also owes significance as defying his party’s stance on the Ram Temple event, the son of former CM Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya also attended the temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya.
For the people of Himachal, their beliefs are often guided by the local gods whom leaders invoke before elections. Congress leader from Jwalamukhi Sanjay Rattan recently courted controversy by seeking votes in the name of the local Jwala devi. Following this, the BJP filed a complaint with the EC.
In April, Congress MLA from Kullu was accused of seeking votes in favour of the party’s candidate by swearing on the valley’s presiding deity Raghunath. However, he said his statement was distorted.
A former MLA of Lahaul-Spiti also accused the state Agriculture Minister Ram Lal Markanda of making people swear to vote for him by chanting a rosary. Markanda called the allegation baseless.
The matter reached the EC and Himachal Pradesh CEO Devesh Kumar said that it is still under investigation. When asked, Kumar said, “If someone uses traditions to seek vote, it is considered a violation of the code of conduct.”
What Rattan and the others practised is commonly called ‘Lunn lota’, reported in different forms in different areas of Himachal. Prof Ramesh Chauhan of Political Science department of Himachal Pradesh University, says while making a person take an oath, lunn (salt) is put in a water pot and it is said if you break the oath, then as the salt dissolves in water, you will also perish.
The practice is prevalent among people in Sirmaur, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti, who have never seen a city, says Chauhan. People in Himachal follow ‘Dev Sanskriti’ and many villages have their own ancient temples with their own areas of influence, adds Chauhan.
Chauhan says people of villages in Himachal have deep faith in their village or clan deities. “They believe these deities still listen to them and speak to them through their guru and in some cases village heads. For many people, the deities are like the head of the family… However, politicians do take advantage of their beliefs,” says Chauhan, who is from Shimla’s Rohru area and has seen ‘Lunn Lota’ being practised.
“The rural society in Himachal has an informal structure based on caste. The village chief heads an informal meeting in which it is decided which party to vote for. To make sure votes are not wasted, the chief makes a decision and the villagers give assurance. Mostly, the fear factor in people’s minds are harped on,” he says, adding that even though the practice is still in place but without solid proof, it is difficult to prove.
Around 26% of the Himachal population comprises SCs, STs and other denotified sections. “They are a major vote bank of Congress. Traditionally, the trading and business class votes for the BJP. In such scenarios, when the grassroot-level party workers preach ‘Lunn Lota’, it can shift votes,” he says.
A lot also depends on the candidate picked by a particular party, says a prominent hotelier from Mandi. “It has been a trend here from the times of the Dhumal government (2009) that if people choose Congress in the state, they prefer to send BJP MPs to the Lok Sabha and vise-versa to maintain a balance. However, Kangana’s candidature didn’t go down well with party seniors vying for ticket. For the people too, Kangana’s nature of name-calling is against the ethos of the Dev Samaj. So even though people really wanted to vote for BJP in LS elections, they are confused and taking help of age-old practices,” he says.
However, with youths actively taking part in politics, Chauhan believes things are changing on ground. “The elderly still follow traditions. What they do is against the spirit of democracy. But for them it’s like taking an oath on Gita, which they say is accepted then why not this? And in front of that, even an educated person remains mum,” he says, adding that owing to a lot of factors, Congress has an edge in Shimla and Mandi this time.
