We’ve still got about 25 days to go until the Ram Mandir’s inauguration in Ayodhya, but the media is already driving us batty with endless coverage.

On Tuesday, it was reporters chasing after CPIM’s Sitaram Yechury to ask whether he’d be attending the event. In the words of Republic Bharat, “This is very strange that a leader who has Sita and Ram in his name has refused to show up.”

Today, it’s a journalist with ABP Majha tearing up on air while attempting to interview an official involved in the temple’s construction. The official was emotional himself and that set anchor Dnyanada Kadam off.

She couldn’t help it, she said, because Lord Ram had suffered so until the temple came to fruition.

“I have also become emotional because our Ram, who is the god of Hindus, stayed in a tent for 70 years,” she said in Marathi. “I have become emotional after seeing the tears in your eyes. For 70 years, Ram bore heat under the scorching sun, wind and rain...But now, he will come to the temple.”

Asking for forgiveness, Kadam said, “These are tears of satisfaction and devotion. I feel fortunate as I am here during the temple construction...and got a chance to experience this.”

But Kadam knew her audience, saying viewers of ABP Majha would “understand”: “Every person who comes here is a bhakt. They have hurt feelings that Ram stayed in a tent for 70 years.”

But Kadam was merely repeating what others have said before. In 2020, Prime Minister Modi said Ram had been “living in tents for years” and would finally get his temple. In 2021, Home Minister Amit Shah also said Ram had to “stay in a tent” during Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure. Further back in 2018, a BJP legislator turned on his own party by saying Ram lived in a tent despite Modi being PM and Yogi Adityanath being CM.

Tent or not, this is just the beginning of the media coverage you can expect as the inauguration draws close. And we’re going to report on it too – but differently. Newslaundry has a new Sena project on how the national reconstruction of the Ram Mandir will impact people in Ayodhya. Contribute now.