Riding on the slogan of Jai Shri Ram, the BJP improved its tally in the Lok Sabha from two seats in 1984 to 85 in 1989, to 120 in 1991 and to single-largest party with 161 MPs in 1996. In his autobiography, Nehru credits Baba Ramchandra for making an old cry of Sita-Ram "an almost warlike significance" and "a signal for emergencies as well as a bond between different villages".Īfter Ram Janmabhoomi movement of the VHP and parallel political campaign of the BJP, Sita-Ram gave way to Jai Shri Ram and became an essentially political slogan raised more during the time of elections. The popularity to Sita-Ram is credited to a freedom fighter and peasant activist Baba Ramchandra, who had impressed Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with his organisational skills. The earlier popular slogan or chant was Sita-Ram and Siya-Ram, which were frequently used as words for greeting one another.
WHAT DOES JAI SHREE KRISHNA MEAN SERIAL
The slogan, Jai Shri Ram was used in the TV serial as a battle cry by Hanuman and others in Lord Ram's expedition against Ravan, the king of Lanka who had abducted Sita, the wife of Ram. An active participant in the temple movement was BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and his protege Narendra Modi.īut before the BJP made Jai Shri Ram slogan as its own, it was already in popular use in late 1980s courtesy the TV serial Ramayan produced by filmmaker Ramanand Sagar. It is not yet clear when Jai Shri Ram entered the political space but it came to be identified with the BJP around the 1990-92 Ram temple movement, which was launched by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) - an extended arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) family. In a similar incident, a 16-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur was beaten up after his assaulters found him wearing a skull cap and asked him to chant Jai Shri Ram which he refused to do at first. He was accused of stealing a motorcycle in Seraikela Kharsawan district of the state.Īnsari was allegedly tied to a pole and beaten up with sticks by a mob that forced him to shout Jai Shri Ram after ascertaining that he was a Muslim. Tabrez Ansari, 24, was allegedly lynched in Jharkhand last month. All this has happened in the backdrop of cases of mob lynching in which victims belonging to Muslim community were forced to chant Jai Shri Ram by the perpetrators.