'Rama' refuses to burn effigy in Rajasthan's Sirohi, calls BJP leader Ravana for alleged corruption

Politicians incur the disdain of many and are called different names over their careers. But in the city of Sirohi in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s mandal president Suresh Sagarvanshi got called out by the ‘gods’ themselves. [caption id=“attachment_4104597” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] During the performance of the Ramleela, Sagarvanshi was on the stage when the actor playing Rama, Manoj Kumar Mali, refused to shoot the arrow which burns the effigy, reported Hindustan Times. Instead, Mali accused Sagarvanshi of corruption and called him Ravana. “The actual Ravana is sitting on the stage, politicising every issue. Given this scenario, Lord Rama has to return disappointed,” said Mali. Alleging that Sagarvanshi’s committee gets more grants than all other committees, Mali — along with around 100 other actors in the Ramleela — walked out, shouting slogans against the organisers, said the report. The organisers then had to dress a child sitting in the audience as Rama who then fired the arrow to burn the effigy. Sagarvanshi denied the allegations as he told Hindustan Times, “The incident was incited by a handful of people to create ruckus at the celebrations.” He further said that his committee will not take the grant from 2018. Ramleela, the enactment of various chapters of the Ramayana, is performed in days around Dussehra to celebrate the symbolic victory of good over evil. It generally concludes with Rama shooting an arrow at an effigy of Ravana which then bursts into flames to portray the triumph of good over evil.