Pop goes Hindutva, with saffron-clad folks storming out to slogans of ¡®Jai Shri Ram¡¯ and ¡®Har Har Mahadev¡¯ against the supposedly insidious designs of the ¡®topiwala¡¯ enemy. A new breed of performers is taking over the internet with music videos that are a striking mix of Hindutva ideology and self-styled ¡®nationalism¡¯.
The script is simple: Hindus will awaken to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, defeat Pakistan and China to hoist saffron flags and the tricolour in every home, ushering in true Ram Rajya. The lyrics are blunt¡ªTel laga ke Dabur ka, naam mita do Babur ka or more muscular like Yudh ka bigul bajana hai, gau mata ke hatyaron ko, mitti mein milana hai and are supplemented by visuals of deities like Shiva and Ram, rolling tanks and bomb-dropping jets, images of terrorist Hafiz Saeed, former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
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Twenty-nine-year-old Laxmi Dubey, in her saffron headgear, rudraksh malas and tilak, does the godwoman look with great elan. Dubey¡¯s video titled Bhagwa lekar aaye hain has racked up 3.4 million views with lyrics like Jisko Hindustan mein rehna hoga, vande mataram kehna hoga. Another video, Har ghar bhagwa chhayega, has garnered 2.2 million views.
Part of her sadhvi mystique is her life story. Dubey says her mother passed away soon after she was born in Bhopal. She claims that she left home at the age of five to join a jatha of pilgrims travelling to Ayodhya as part of the Ram Janambhoomi movement. There are gaps in the retelling of what happened after that but she says ¡°deshbhakti¡¯¡¯ was always a strong sentiment in her heart. ¡°It is our duty to create a Hindu rashtra,¡± she says. It is said that she earns close to Rs 20 lakh a year in ad revenues though these are just guesstimates as she isn¡¯t talking numbers. The BJP in Chhattisgarh has already roped her in to campaign for the ongoing state polls.
If Dubey models herself as a sadhvi, Delhi-based Sanjay Faizabadi¡¯s branding is more martial. Dressed in army fatigues with bloody lips and red paint dripping from his face, Sanjay Faizabadi believes he has oracle-like skills. A class eight dropout, Faizabadi claims his song Modi Hindustaan ho came out a year before Narendra Modi was elected PM. Another number, Pakistan hila denge, came out several months before the surgical strikes across LoC. Heavy with visuals of marching contingents from Republic Day parade, along with video game visuals of tanks and fighting jawans, Faizabadi¡¯s songs like Uri ka badla are meant to serve as warnings to China and Pakistan.
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Faizabadi wanted to join the army and later struggled for several years as a scriptwriter and singer. In 2016 he hit upon the winning formula ¡ª deshbhakti. Laharayega Tiranga Lahore mein released in October that year got 3.2 million views. He says he gets hundreds of calls every month from viewers who mistake him for an army officer, seeking advice on how to join the force. ¡°My songs don¡¯t promote violence. But if we are attacked, we should fight back,¡± he says.
The sentiment of rousing the peace-loving Hindu to his angry avatar is echoed by Ayodhya¡¯s Sandeep Chaturvedi. The 23-year-old has his own YouTube channel and describes himself as a ¡°rashtravadi gayak¡¯¡¯ who is an admirer of PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Ever since his Topi wala sar jhukayega became a superhit, invites for events have been pouring in. A Bajrang Dal worker, he recently sang at a programme in Jharkhand¡¯s Dhanbad. The shamiana was packed with young men, many wearing saffron headgear and red tilaks and shouting slogans against Pakistan. A roar of approval goes up as Chaturvedi gives a call to head to Ayodhya to build the mandir before he breaks into the ...Naam mita do Babur ka ditty.
To scoff at the poor video quality or the tinny-sounding music is pointless. The rising appeal of nationalistic songs has translated into half a million YouTube hits for Bikaner-based Narottam Ranga¡¯s 2017 anthem Pukaarti pukaarti, pukaarti maa bharti, khoon se tum tilak karo, goliyon se aarti. Not surprising that many other lesser-known artistes are jumping into the fray.
Author and researcher Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay puts it down to ¡°othering¡¯¡¯ ¡ª dislike and distrust of the imagined enemy. ¡°Social media or networks like YouTube and WhatsApp are just modern-day wall writings. In the last few years, Hindu nationalism has been more aggressively promoted than before. Fringe elements have been mainstreamed and legitimised and there is an understanding that action will not be taken against statements or actions that may not be entirely legal,¡± he says, adding that tones and tunes will get more aggressive as elections come closer.
With the Supreme Court scheduled to hear the Ayodhya case next year and the recent spate of renaming cities like Faizabad to Ayodhya, the political discourse has again shifted to Hindu rashtra. And Hindutva pop is leaving no song unsung to drive its message home.