BackAyodhya: Of election fortunes and religion in Ram’s Janmabhoomi
BJP led by Narendra Modi will win the polls in the holy townat least a fortune teller says so
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Ayodhya is a city that has grown around the idea of mythology, temples and idols. Considered by the devout to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, the Hindu god, the city’s economy is closely linked to its religious history.
Almost everything here has a appears to be linked to religion—there is a restaurant, a college, a departmental store and a stationery shop, all named after Lord Ram.
There are several practitioners of traditional professions. One such person is fortune teller Shyam Sundar Singh, an unassuming middle-aged man who earns his livelihood by using two birds to predict the future. Singh sits on a platform next to a road that leads to Hanuman Garhi—a temple of Lord Hanuman—which further leads to the disputed site of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple where the Babri mosque used to be. Tell him your name and he will ask one of his two birds to pick a fortune card.
Ask him about his expectations from the elections and he says: “This time everyone here is going to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party; abki baar Modi sarkar (this time, a Modi government)."
The city, state that sends 80 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha, and the country are eagerly awaiting the results of this election. If only Shyam Sundar’s birds could predict it for us.
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