Mandi (Himachal Pradesh): It’s around 9:15 pm. The evening, they say in the city, has just begun, but the mountains sleep early and the Sutlej that was raging throughout the day also suddenly appears calm and still.
She has been touring through her constituency since the afternoon. Geographically, Mandi is among the largest Lok Sabha constituencies in India, ranging in elevation from 6,000 metres above sea level to 900 metres, from Chamba to Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, and even Rampur in Shimla district.
Her convoy of five-six vehicles stops at the Sheetla Devi temple in old Mandi. She gets down, quickly takes to the stairs, visits the temple and moves to a platform near the temple. A small crowd of about 500 people, of which 70-80% are women, has gathered here. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader gives a short speech before she swiftly takes the microphone. Just a little introduction – it’s not an arrival that you’d associate with most politicians.
Kangana Ranaut’s first words are: “Jai-Jai Shri Ram. Bharat Mata ki Jai.”
And then she says, “Never before has it happened in a democracy that even before voting is over, people are saying – Aayega to Modi hi (It is definitely Modi who will come to power).”
All in Modi’s name
It’s the night of May 27. Ranaut speaks for about nine minutes. The entire speech is focused on just one topic (Hindutva) and one person (Narendra Modi). “Modiji” has brought back the lost glory of the country in the last ten years, the previous governments “did not even know where the country’s borders were… (Modi) found them out through satellites”, she claims.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Her voice is dripping with fervour and anger. She is wearing a light pink salwar suit, a Himachali cap on her head. Donning a Pahadi dialect, she comes across as just another young Himachali woman.
She does not share her vision for her home district Mandi or Himachal Pradesh. Modiji has already formed this vision. Modiji will transform Mandi as soon as he gains his third term. Ranaut does not even ask for votes for herself. The victory will be Modiji’s, not hers.
Why?
“He brought Lord Rama… Lord Rama has chosen him (Modiji) to build his temple, to establish his prestige, to redeem the country. We are Rama’s army. We will do whatever Rama says.”
Ranaut then informs the uninitiated audience that when people become prime ministers, they perform “great tasks”, but Modi “got toilets cleaned, bathrooms built”. “The country was dying of starvation. He gave ration to 80 crore people.”
And what is Modiji’s vision for the third term?
“Our country is witnessing the same old-fashioned voting. You find recurring elections every two-three months. All the officers and ministers are busy with this – election, election, election.”
Ranaut makes the agenda clear.
You may wonder why she doesn’t talk about herself, but Ranaut is the candidate of a “Sanatani Party” and “we are Modi bhakts”. Everything is about the leader; it has to be that way.
The contest
The Mandi Lok Sabha constituency is the ancestral seat of Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh’s father and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Congress has won this seat 12 times since 1952; Virbhadra’s family members alone held it for six terms. Vikramaditya’s mother, Pratibha Singh, is the sitting MP. Their dominance can be easily discerned.
On May 27, Vikramaditya held a rally in Dehar, along the banks of the Sutlej river. A huge convoy of vehicles moved with ‘Tikka Sahab’, he is known. The crowd gathered for him was several times bigger than Ranaut’s public meeting.
One can hear ‘Raje ka beta jeetega (The king’s son will win)’ on the streets. Such is former royal Virbhadra’s looming presence in region that when, after his death, the Congress contested the 2022 assembly elections, the slogan was ‘Virbhadra jeetega (Virbhadra will win)’. The Congress has declined in many places across the country, but the Virbhadra family still rules Himachal. A two-time MLA, Vikramaditya himself is a minister in the current Congress government.
Kangana Ranaut campaigning. Photo: X/@KanganaTeam
In contrast, Ranaut has no family, no political experience – and not even an army of loyal supporters.
Whatever little team she has is still to adjust to the new leader and her swings. She can suddenly end her speech, and leave the meeting with a jolt. On Monday evening, her roadshow was scheduled from Hotel Comfort at Mandi Chowk. Her colleagues expected it to be a longer affair. A good crowd had gathered before her arrival. But she left within ten minutes. “She came, spoke loudly and left,” said a disappointed party member at Hotel Comfort.
But Ranaut has verve in her voice, a zing in her step and a demeanour draped in a seemingly authentic Pahadi innocence. The Congress attacks her Bollywood past, but Ranaut seems to have left behind her Bombay career and has made her Himachali identity her shield.
The fire burns
Ranaut has been seen making irresponsible statements in viral videos. This may be an indicator of her inner nature, but may also reflect a rare actress who has stood her ground fearlessly in a brutal Hindi film industry without any support over the last 15 years. It may not be an inadvertent decision for her to have made the prime minister’s image her electoral foundation.
But is she aware of her ancestors? She accuses the Congress of looting Himachal. She could read a little history to know that the woman who represented the Mandi seat in India’s first Lok Sabha elections was the great freedom fighter Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. The country’s first health minister, Kaur laid the foundation of AIIMS and holds a glorious place in modern Indian history.
It’s around 11 pm now. A little before Rewalsar, about 25 km from Mandi, a fire is raging in the pine forest. A fire brigade vehicle has arrived.
Firefighters in Rewalsar. Photo: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Mandi is touching 40 degrees Celsius. Scattered along the forest trail, dry pine leaves catch fire quickly. The sticky gum from pine accelerates the fire.
“Kangana would have easily defeated Rani (Pratibha Singh). But Raja’s son has made the contest interesting,” says fireman Padam Singh. He has arrived with his colleagues to extinguish the fire but can’t figure out where to start from.
It’s a long night. The pine forest is smouldering – and so is the political temperature in the mountains.
Read this article in Hindi here.
