POLITICALLY CORRECT: But that may not help the real-life Smriti Irani

The resemblance between reel and real life is striking — only the time and place seem out of sync and the gigantic Virani parivar is missing in action. It’s peak heat time on a sultry summer afternoon when Indian television’s most devout daughter-in-law, Tulsi Virani, alights from an air-conditioned black Scorpio onto a congested Chandni Chowk street in Old Delhi and briskly heads for the local Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha office. She is dressed in her trademark sari, displays prominent sindoor and a mangalsutra and is scheduled to preside over a religious havan ceremony at the BJP youth HQ.

Tulsiji — as she is being cordially addressed — does not need cues to touch the feet of the elderly BJP workers, exchange cosy pleasantries with the womenfolk, sit ramrod-straight and serious throughout the havan and pour ghee into the fire each time the chief priest utters “Swahah”. She knows her job well. And when Tulsiji is invited to say “two words” to the doting listeners, she sprouts the typical Tulsi-isms. “Elections are a test of fire. We have to stand together like a family. Chandni Chowk should set an example of how a family, when united, can fight all odds. We should enter this war like a family,” she says and signs off with a folded-handed “Pranam”.

Smriti Malhotra Irani, who plays Tulsi in Ekta Kapoor’s magnum opus soap, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, is contesting for the Lok Sabha elections (to be held on May 10) from Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk constituency on a BJP ticket. And she is clearly drawing maximum mileage from her image as television’s most pious and family-oriented bahu.

The BJP has its reasons for pitching first-timer Irani against Congress strongman Kapil Sibal. Delhi’s Chandni Chowk — with its 45 per cent orthodox Muslim population — still lives by the old social rule-book which dictates the maintaining of close-knit, extended families and trains women to be perfect home-makers instead of job-seekers. “Concepts like nuclear families, escalating divorce rates and apathy towards elders are yet to invade these parts,” says Gopal Goyal, a local BJP party worker. The BJP is hoping that Tulsi will strike the right chord with Chandni Chowk’s conservative-minded folks.

But local residents are not buying the BJP’s reel-life-orthodox-appeals-to-real-life-orthodox theory. “Irani has no previous relationship with Chandni Chowk. I wonder why the BJP picked this constituency for her,” says Fauzia, a teacher at the local Summerville School and resident of the area.

In fact, residents are apprehensive that Irani would never even be seen in Chandni Chowk once the heat and dust of the elections were over. “Irani has no emotional or moral attachment with Chandni Chowk,” says Jaswant Singh, a local shopkeeper. “She will head back to Mumbai and to her acting assignments once the elections are done with. Where will we go looking for her when we need her help?” he asks.

The pull-effect of the squeaky-clean ideal bahu image is clearly coming under pressure from several push-factors. “Tulsi is a much admired person on TV. She handles her family situations wisely and boldly. She is also suitably religious and orthodox, just as an ideal Indian daughter-in-law should be,” says Seema Zia, a social worker residing in the Jama Masjid area of Chandni Chowk. “But politics is a different ball game. Theatrical impressions do not sway an educated voter’s mindset,” she feels.

Also, playing a pious bahu on-screen is easier than playing one off-screen. And Chandni Chowk residents are quick to notice the difference. As soon as Irani winds up her havan-appointment at the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha office, she quickly heads for her waiting Scorpio and drives off. The complete lack of acknowledgment of shopkeepers who do business below the BJP office does not go unnoticed. “She just came, did her official two-bit and left. No hellos and how-are-yous were exchanged with the people around,” points out Mahesh Anand, a cloth merchant, who runs a shop below the first-floor BJP Yuva Morcha office.

But the womenfolk of Chandni Chowk might not agree with Anand’s apprehensions. The utopian Tulsi image does hold sway over the area. “Tulsi looks sweet and family-oriented on television. She says all the right things about commitment towards family. A lot of women are mesmerised by her ,” says Fauzia.

It’s this supposed mass hypnotism that the Ekta Kapoor serial has over India’s middle-class womenfolk that the BJP wants to cash in on. “Women crowd around Irani when she campaigns. They bring garlands and home-cooked food for her. Many of them bring family problems that they want her to solve,” says party worker Goyal. He is confident that Irani will fetch the BJP ballot-boxfuls of women’s votes.

Congress party spokesperson Tom Vadakkan begs to differ. He says the family-oriented image will not take the novice Chandni Chowk candidate very far. “The voter is not a fool. She would much rather prefer a flesh and blood bahu, who has sacrificed for her family in real life, to an illusory television actor who fakes her tears with glycerine,” says Vadakkan.

As the BJP and the Congress stick to their respective stands, it’s left to the Chandni Chowk voter to decide whether running a television household efficiently is qualification enough to run the country.