IT IS almost noon and the winter fog has just begun to lift. From a distance, one can spot an array of saffron flags featuring Lord Ram fluttering at the shop of Joginder Singh. Located in Meerut on the Delhi-Meerut-Baghpat road, the shop also has on sale Diwali diyas, and piles of stickers and stoles with Ayodhya’s Ram Temple as the theme. A solitary Tricolour jostles for space.

“Republic Day is coming, but there is greater enthusiasm for the Ram Temple inauguration. A lot of Shri Ram and Rudra Hanuman flags are being bought,” says Singh, 30. He usually sells baby diapers for a living. “But seeing the enthusiasm around Ram Temple, I have started selling these.”

An Armyman, posted in Sikkim and at the shop bargaining for a flag, says, “it is all thanks to Baba (Yogi Adityanath)”. “Now we will celebrate January 22 (the day of the consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya) like Diwali.”

Across these western UP districts on the way from Delhi to Ayodhya, which have a significant Muslim population and history of communal tension, the excitement over the Ram Temple is palpable but uneven – tempered by caste, by religion, often, just daily pressures. The Indian Express interacted mostly with those born after the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992, unburdened by the weight of that history, their worldview shaped by the new temple narrative.

Across the street, Sumit Sharma, a cigarette shop owner, and Sunny — both 30 – are discussing holding a drive to collect money from shopkeepers to decorate the market with lights on January 22. The talk moves on to how “(Prime Minister) Modi has put Muslims in their place”. Have Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan donated for the temple, they ask.

The heroes these days are three men from Meerut, who reportedly embarked on a padyatra to Ayodhya recently.

“After three decades, the sacrifice of Hindus is bearing fruition. People are euphoric,” beams Sharma. A Brahmin who loves watching YouTube videos, particularly those of his favourite “Khan sir”, Sharma adds: “Once this market was dominated by Muslims. But after the 1987 riots, they retreated to the main city.”

Sunny, who is a Kumhar (an OBC caste), says there are more changes ahead. “You will soon see crowds at Mathura Vrindavan falling by half. Krishna’s time is over, Ram is rising.”

Outside the gates of the Meerut Institute of Technology, where students are waiting in biting cold to appear for their exams, this euphoria is more nuanced.

“I am not interested in politics,” says Jai Dwivedi, when asked about the Ram Temple. “Though it is okay, there should be more focus on education and healthcare. There is not one good government hospital one can go to. People sell their land to get their loved ones treated.”

His friend Udit Bharadwaj butts in, “The real issue is unemployment. There has been no recruitment in the Uttar Pradesh Police in five years.” Bharadwaj wishes the government would cut the retirement age by 10 years “so that more youngsters get a shot at jobs”.

Still, there is no real anger against the Narendra Modi government; rather the two commend it for “communication” and “accountability”. “Earlier we wouldn’t even know why petrol prices were increasing or what work was happening where,” they say.

In the city’s Kesarganj area, which has a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims, the latter are reluctant to engage on the issue.

On much prodding, Mohd Shafique, 31, a meat shop owner, says, “What do we have to do with (the demolished) Babri Masjid? We don’t have to go there for namaz. We offer it here in our mosque.”

After a pause, his eyes nervously looking around, he says, “Mussalman toh ab chup hai. Apne kaam se kaam rakho, koi dikkat nahin hai (The Muslims are silent now. Just stick to one’s own business, there is no problem then).”

Mohd Shakir, 28, who sells biscuits and snacks in the market, is a bit more open. No one could have a problem with the Ram Temple, he says, “it is a place of worship”. Plus, “It is their government, they can do anything.”

At the same time, he does not think the euphoria around the Ram Temple suggests that India is on the road to becoming a “Hindu Rashtra”.

Shakir also praises Adityanath for the improved law and order in the state. “Saari gundagardi khatam kar di. Ye bas Hindu-Muslim karna band kar dein to 50 saal tak inhe koi hara nahin payega (All hooliganism is finished. Only if they stopped doing politics of Hindu-Muslim… no one would be able to dislodge them for 50 years),” he says.

About 60 km away, in Muzaffarnagar, another communally sensitive town, there is similar excitement among caste Hindus and anxiety among Muslims.

Rajkumar Thakur, a tea stall owner at Ahilyabai Chowk, which has Hindu and Muslim businesses standing cheek by jowl, rattles off “facts” about the Ram Temple even as his customers, a majority of them Muslims, sip tea.

“Do you know the temple is 158 feet tall? It will be visible from 40 km away. It has gold doors. Yogi and Modi have made it happen, or else it would have never happened. After this, Kashi and Mathura will happen. Ab bas Ayodhya jaana hai, Bhagwan ke darshan ho jayein, jeevan safal ho jayega (Now all I desire is to go to Ayodhya, see God, and my life will be fulfilled),” he says.

Mohd Aariz, a 30-year-old labourer who is among those gathered at the stall, is quiet then, but says later: “In our religion, we do not speak ill of others. Those who do will be punished by Allah. The Almighty is watching everything. He will do justice.”

Thakur’s euphoria is not shared by residents of Ghasipura, a village dominated by Jatav Dalits, though.

“We have nothing to do with the Ram Temple. Our God is Baba Ravidas and Lord Shiva. BJP people are roaming around the village canvassing for the temple, but people don’t care much,” says Robin, 28, a rolling mill worker.

His friend Suraj, 22, questions the government’s intentions. “One achieves nothing just changing the name of the country. You have to change its path. Yogi-Modi sarkar is good, but they should focus on employment.”

After studying till Class 12, both Robin and Suraj work as labourers at a Muzaffarnagar rolling mill.

At Bankhandi village of Hapur too, the feelings regarding the temple are mixed.

Shiva Valmik, 25, who sells chicken for a living, says, “It is good that the temple is being built. But why is the government banning meat sale in the state around the inauguration? Every time there is some big festival, meat shops are forced shut. Who will compensate us?”

Satpal Kashyap, 60, an OBC farmer, says, “I am also a Hindu… but the noise around it is as if Ram is getting born on January 22. Was Ram not there earlier? So much money is being spent on the temple. What are the poor getting?”

Kashyap, whose sons work as drivers, points to the new rules regarding hit-and-runs which have led to protests. “The government has brought a law that will put them in jail for even minor accidents.”

Bulandshahr recently saw the BJP promote a leader accused in the killing of a policeman during violence by Hindutva mobs in Siyana in 2018, following alleged cow slaughter. But the outrage by Opposition leaders over this isn’t reflected on the ground.

Om Bir Singh, a labourer belonging to the OBC Lodh community, and his friends are busy organising celebrations to mark the inauguration of the Ayodhya temple. Carrying several tins of ghee and sacks of flour arranged by them, in a rickshaw through the Aurangabad market, Om Bir says: “We are going to host a bhandara with whatever little we have.”

He adds that the credit for the temple belongs to Kalyan Singh, the BJP leader who was the CM when the Babri Masjid was razed and a fellow Lodh. “My loyalties will always be with him.”

Others in the area say the Aurangabad market will be decorated with lights on January 22, while all Hindus will light diyas at their homes.

Mohd Shoaib, 27, a fruit seller near the Aurangabad mosque, says: “This is not religion, this is politics. But what does it have to do with me? I have to earn a livelihood. That is my only concern.”

Manish Chauhan, 26, who is Siyana based and shares his premises with a Muslim doctor, strikes a cautionary note. “People are happy, but there is no over-excitement. Only BJP guys are roaming around organising functions. We have a mixed population and people live peacefully,” Chauhan says, adding that the BJP is generating all the euphoria due to the coming elections. “Dhyan bhatkane ka kaam hai (it’s just a tactic to distract).”

But Surendra, an OBC shopkeeper, makes a counter argument: that there are no largescale celebrations in Siyana because it has large Muslim numbers. “Hindus are happy. After 500 years, justice has been done,” he says.