Meerut: BJP has fielded Arun Govil, who won the hearts of the audience by playing the role of Lord Ram, from Meerut Lok Sabha seat. By fielding candidates from Vaishya community in Meerut and Kshatriya community candidates from Ghaziabad, BJP has fulfilled the quota of both the communities. Many leaders from Vaishya community were in contention from Meerut. Three-time MLA Amit Aggarwal had a strong claim. Consumer Cooperative Union President Sanjeev Goyal Sikka was also busy in the area. Two days ago, the name of Metropolitan President Mukesh Singhal also came into discussion. Business leader Vineet Aggarwal Sharda was making a strong claim. Apart from Metropolitan President Suresh Jain Rituraj, Vikas Aggarwal and Sudhir Aggarwal also had strong claims from Hapur, but on Sunday night, BJP put an end to all the speculations and cast the final vote in the name of Arun Govil.
By not declaring candidates for four western seats in its first list, BJP had given indications of changing the tickets of Meerut and Ghaziabad. Since then it was believed that the party would not contest elections this time to three-time MP Rajendra Aggarwal. In fact, last time Rajendra Aggarwal had won from BSP-SP alliance candidate Haji Yakub in a very tough contest. The difference between victory and defeat was only 4729 votes. The BJP high command believed that a celebrity candidate should be fielded in areas where the party wins by a small margin. This was the reason why Rajendra Aggarwal’s ticket was canceled and Arun Govil became the candidate.
Arun Govil was born on 12 January 1958 in Cantt.
Apart from stardom, Arun Govil, who played the character of ‘Shri Ram’ in Ramayana, also has a Meerut connection. He was born on 12 January 1958 in Meerut Cantt. His father Chandraprakash Govil was a hydraulic engineer from Meerut Municipality.
Arun’s early education was from Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Purva Mahavir and Government Inter College. He was educated in Saharanpur and Shahjahanpur. He received his formal education at Chaudhary Charan Singh University. He studied engineering science and acted in some plays. His father wanted him to become a government employee, while Arun wanted to do something for which he would be remembered. Arun is the fourth among six brothers and two sisters. Govil is married to actress Sreelekha. They have two children, Sonika and Amal. At the age of 17, he went to Mumbai for business and started his struggle to become an actor.
Started with 1977 film ‘Paheli’
Arun Govil may have become popular in every household with the serial ‘Ramayana’, but he had debuted on the big screen long ago with the 1977 film ‘Paheli’. This film was of Rajshree Productions, a production house that makes family films.
The character of Ram had made Arun special from the ordinary. People used to fall at his feet as soon as they saw him in public places. People started seeing him as Lord Rama and wanted his blessings.
Remained active in TV industry after Ramayana
After Ramayana, Govil has been active in the TV industry and acted in many mythological serials. He also played the role of King Harishchandra in TV shows named Luv-Kush, Vishwamitra and Buddha.
His second popular character on TV was Raja Vikram of ‘Vikram Betal’. People liked this show and Arun Govil’s character very much. Arun also appeared in many films like ‘Shradhanjali’, ‘Itni Si Baat’, ‘Jio To Aise Jio’, ‘Sawan Ko Aane Do’.
