Resources for all concerned with culture of authoritarianism in society, banalisation of communalism, (also chauvinism, parochialism and identity politics) rise of the far right in India (and with occasional information on other countries of South Asia and beyond)
Cults will remain as long as there’s political patronage, superstitious Indians
For as long as large sections of Indians remain superstitious
and have blind faith in fraudulent dispensers of divine blessings, they
will continue to grow, especially if political patronage remains
forthcoming
There was never a dearth of sadhus in India that attracted
cult following with which came vast donations and an army of followers
ready to obey their every command(Manoj Dhaka/HT)
An
abiding news picture of the 1980s was that of the then Lok Sabha speaker
Balram Jakhar getting literally kicked on his head by a
sparsely-clothed emaciated man sitting on a machan. The look of pure
bliss on the face of the recipient of the kick was difficult to miss for
this apparently symbolised the blessings of the machan-man.
The
giver of this unusual method of blessing was an obscure godman, Deoraha
baba, whose kick on a devotee’s head supposedly led to fame and fortune.
The baba who suddenly shot into fame around that time was said to never
descend to the ground, having vowed to live forever on a tree! While
the godman’s eccentricity could be overlooked, what was astonishing was
the list of his visitors — a veritable Who’s Who — men not only educated
but powerful, holding important positions in government and even
academia.
Perhaps the vulnerability of politicians and their
unsatiated greed for power and position make them easy targets of
godmen, but such babas in turn thrive on the endorsement from the high
and mighty. There was never a dearth of sadhus in India that attracted
cult following with which came vast donations and an army of followers
ready to obey their every command.
It is however remarkable that in recent years the cult of
such godmen has not only grown, but their followers have become
increasingly violent, ready to confront the State and shed blood. The
irony is that such cults have expanded even as India has risen to become
an IT giant, sent sophisticated rockets into space and established an
enviable record in science and technical education. The further irony is
that persons with top qualifications from Indian and foreign
universities often join such cults and use their talents to serve the
nefarious designs of megalomaniacal gurus.
The tragic happenings
in Panchkula and elsewhere last Friday after one such megalomaniac with a
criminal mindset was convicted of rape are the latest example of the
nexus between politics and fraudulent babadom. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
ran a well-oiled empire from his citadel or Dera in Sirsa where
thousands of devotees believed him to be an incarnation of god. With a
huge following among lower caste Hindus and Sikhs, he had politicians at
his beck and call for they knew one signal from him could ensure tens
of thousands of votes for their party. He had no particular ideological
predilection, having played footsie with most parties in Punjab and
Haryana where his support base was significant.
Not Singh alone,
but various babas have been convinced of their own invincibility. This
in turn often caused them to over-reach and invite their own doom.
Singh, a barely literate villager, started dispensing spirituality
although he led a life of ostentatious indolence and aspired to rock
star status. Two films produced by him may have bombed at the box office
but this failure had no impact on his cult following.
In this he
was somewhat different from other cult leaders such as the one who led
hundreds of his devotees to death near Mathura last year after setting
up a commune of sorts from where he thought he could wage war against
the State in the name of Subhas Chandra Bose.
Such
cults are not to be found in India alone. Many would recall the mass
suicide by devotees of a Christian cult in the United States about two
decades ago. But unlike other countries from which similar instances can
be cited, political patronage for cult leaders is probably unique to
India.
As Indian elections become fiercely competitive and
identity the major determinant of electoral choice, these cults have the
capacity to barter support in exchange for official favours. Leaders of
organised religious groups too are not averse to strike such deals.
Political chieftains routinely make a beeline for sadhus, maulanas and
padres to seek their blessings for electoral gain. In exchange, such
groups are promised land allotments and protection from possible police
harassment.
Smaller religious sects being more organised and
disciplined are more adept at cutting such bargains. For example, a sect
called the Matua, comprising mainly lower caste adherents in West
Bengal and led by two rival godmothers, shoots into the news before
every election. Several Muslim pirs too find political leaders knocking
at their doors in the hope that they would influence followers’ voting
preference.
Usually, this is how it starts. And before long
ambitious babas, pirs and evangelist preachers acquire larger than life
status. Some of them establish a state within a state, as in the case of
Dera Sacha Sauda. By the time politicians realise and start to repent,
matters go out of hand.
But will the Dera tragedy put a stop to
this? Most unlikely, for as long as large sections of Indians remain
superstitious and have blind faith in fraudulent dispensers of divine
blessings, they will continue to grow, especially if political patronage
remains forthcoming. Chandan Mitra is editor of The Pioneer and has been two-time Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP
Not just mob frenzy: What is common between followers of Ram Rahim and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar?
The charisma of the guru (usually a male) lies in the fact that
he is able to convince his followers that his own acts are not
anti-social but a-social.
AFP
There are currently three dominant ways of thinking about
the Indian devotion to contemporary gurus. The first suggests that has
something to do with the nature of a society in transition. So, it is
said that as large numbers are faced with economic and social
uncertainty – lack of job prospects, changes in family structures – they
turn to gurus who have quick answers to problems. The increasing
attraction of religious leaders is also being seen as part of a larger
context where Indian society is itself becoming more religious.
The
second perspective is that it is the economically underprivileged who
are the most susceptible to the seductions of gurus, and also the most
prone to react in violent ways when their living icons are subjected to
secular law and reduced to the status of mortals. They have, the
argument goes, much more to lose since gurus provide both symbolic –
overcoming caste-linked humiliation – as well material succor. We are
told that at Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s dera, all followers were treated as
equals (taking on the surname ‘Insaan’) and the organisation ran schools
and hospitals that looked after needs that the state was unable to.
Third,
the growth of gurus is attributed to the political patronage they
enjoy, their leaders being able to influence disciples to vote for this
or that political party. The political uses of special interest groups
is not, however, a particularly Indian phenomenon. There are other
aspects that are more interesting. Photo credit: Facebook/Dera Sacha Sauda.
Perceived binary
It
is not clear, however, that Indians have become more religious. What is
more obvious that the solid bedrock of religious feeling has become
more visible through the explosion of different forms of media and that
religion has become mediatised and commoditised. The new guru is more
visible than the older one and operates in different ways. An awareness
of the long history of gurus and ashrams – the Swaminarayan sect,
Ramakrishna Mission, Radha Soami Satsang, Divine Light Mission, among
others – should alert us that contemporary religiosity might be
different in quality, rather than intensity.
The idea that people
turn to – and take comfort in – “tradition” in times of rapid change has
become a kind of analytical common sense. It is usual to suggest that
the most “natural” reaction to processes of intensive change is the
search for meaning in older forms of associations such as the extended
family and the religious community. The idea of “preserving” the self
under conditions of modernity is itself part of a more general
understanding of the nature of the “inner life” in India and occurs in a
number of contexts of analysis. So, at the present moment, it is common
to come across the argument that excessive consumerism is leading to a
renewed turn towards religiosity as a reaction to excessive materialism.
The
perceived binary between religion (via the guru) and materialism (via
the market) is frequently invoked both by those on the Right, and others
who wish to suggest that there is an “authentic” India that has been
“spoilt” by the unchecked incursions of consumerist modernity. This way
of thinking about our present wishes away a very significant aspect of
our contemporary lives. To suggest that people make choice between the
home and the world and that those who are caught in-between suffer
unbearable tension and split personality is to miss the rise of the
threshold personality. It is also to mistake the apparent for the
actual: the apparently autonomous realms of religiosity and the market
are really not as separable as that. We need to recognise that the
market is the grounds for the making of a variety of social
experiences and that it makes little sense to believe that people are
torn between having to choose between spiritualism and its antithesis.
Our lives are increasingly lived on thresholds, our everyday choices a
mixture of seeming opposites. Followers of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim gather at a park in Panchkula on August 24. Photo credit: PTI
Part of the change
It
isn’t just that Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s followers choose to belong to Dera
Sacha Sauda as a way of resisting the forces of change. Rather, they
choose to belong because they want to be part of the change: Dera Sacha
Sauda offers the choice of multiple worlds. It offers apparent equality,
access to spiritual life, ministration of everyday needs, as well as
being part of the world of goods. It is in this sense that Ram Rahim’s
Dalit following cannot simply be reduced to a simplistic and
undifferentiated Dalit identity. Dalits do not only have a political
identity – in the sense of an oppressed identity politics – they are
also aspirational subjects, seeking to move beyond that identity. They
seek the right – like non-Dalits – to be taken seriously as complex
human beings. The unfortunate thing is that this is a choice offered to
them by self-serving and frequently criminal gurus.
What then
about the point relating to the primarily non-elite nature of Gurmeet
Ram Rahim’s following and their supposed propensity for irrational
behavior and violence? It hardly needs saying that in India there is a
differentiated market for Gurus: there are those who appeal to the
middle classes, upper castes, lower caste etc. What is important to
remember is that each following expresses mob frenzy – and its
destructive force – in different ways. Mob frenzy is not just an aspect
of the actions of the non-middle class disciples. Sri Sri Ravishankar. It
is just as important a part of the followers of, say, Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar as that of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The mobilisation of collective
opinion by Art of Living followers against the findings of the National
Green Tribunal regarding the damage caused by Art of Living’s “World
Culture Festival” to the Yamuna floodplain in Delhi in March 2016 is,
really, another form of mob action. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was to later
suggest if the Tribunal was aware that the floodplains would suffer
environmental damage then it – and not Art of Living – should be penalised
for granting permission for the Festival. Perhaps the Art of Living
founder should also have mentioned that the Tribunal was not able to
withstand the collective pressure applied to it in favour of Art of
Living. The streets occupied by the Art of Living followers – and the
damage caused to public property – are different to that traversed by
Dera Sacha Sauda’s disciples. However, this does not change the fact
that it is mob frenzy by another name.
The truth of the matter is
that irrespective of social context and class fraction, we are a society
deeply wedded to collective action. There are complex reasons for this.
What remains constant is the mobilisation of group identities in the
name of individual salvation. And, the charisma of the guru (usually a
male) lies in the fact that he is able to convince his followers that
his own acts are not anti-social but a-social. That he is beyond the
society he seeks to transform on their behalf. This also lies at the
heart of why Ram Rahim’s female supporters continue to support a
convicted rapist. This psycho-social relationship between the guru and
the follower is the tragedy of love, devotion and admiration. Sanjay Srivastava is a sociologist and author of Slum, Gated Community and Shopping Mall in Delhi and Gurgaon.
In the
last 15 years, novelist and writer Desraj Kali has seen Punjab undergo some striking
changes. But none is as striking as its gradual religious revolution.
A
growing number of people in the predominantly Sikh state, he says, are now visiting
Hindu temples. Not those of principal deities like Vishnu, Shiva and Rama,
but of Shani, the elder brother of the god of death Yama, who is notorious for
his malefic influence on life.
More than
ever before, Kali says, people are visiting the gurudwara of Baba Deep Singh in
Amritsar. According to legend, Deep Singh, a Sikh warrior, was decapitated while battling the forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the king of
Afghanistan. In a niche in the perimeter of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, there
is a painting depicting the storied aftermath:
Deep Singh, holding his severed head with
his left hand and swinging a massive sword with his right, continued
to fight, and died only after reaching the Golden Temple.
There
are more, says Kali. People in increasing numbers are placing chadars at Pirs’ mazaars. There is a “thousand-fold” increase in the number of tantrik ads in the local media. Eeven
orthodox Sikhs – Amritdhaaris, who carry the sacred daggercalled kirpan – have begun
visiting “non-traditional deras”, religious centres with living gurus, though Sikhism expressly forbids worship
of individuals. Baba Deep Singh's gurudwara in Amritsar. Credit: M RajshekharThe rise of uncertainty
What
explains these sweeping changes in Punjab’s religious milieu? It is the rising
uncertainty in people’s lives.
For
decades now, the economic engines that pushed Punjab’s growth have been
slowing. Farm growth, which peaked at around 5%-6% annually in the early 1980s,
has slowed to around 1%-2% now.
Agriculture
in Punjab, says Abhijit Sen, a former member of the erstwhile Planning
Commission, depended on two factors: “A state committed to running agriculture
(like funding agricultural research and providing water), and a tradition of
bequeathing all land to the firstborn, so that landholdings did not get smaller
and smaller.”
Over
the years, this architecture has corroded. The state ran out of new land to
bring under farming; between sustained mono-cropping and high use of chemical
inputs, its agricultural soil weakened; the state withdrew from extension work and farm research; monsoon patterns began to change; and legal
norms (finally) allowing daughters to inherit property contributed to the
fragmentation of landholdings.
Industry,
similarly, went into a tail-spin. At the time of Independence, Punjab was
industrialised and local demand for its products was thriving. Thanks to
migration, the state tapped into markets beyond its boundaries. “Industry in
the state was relatively small-scale, but was able to sell outside Punjab,”
said Sen.
In
recent years, however, as Scroll.inreported earlier in this series, industry has tanked, with predictable
impacts on businesspeople in the state. “Only about 40% of the companies here
are surviving,” said Amarjit Singh, proprietor of the Ludhiana-based real
estate company Bhumi Solutions. “Another 30% have sublet their premises to
other businesses. And about 30% have shut down.” Much of this decay happened,
he says, in the last four years.
As you
travel through Punjab, you see first-hand just how fragile most household
budgets are. Take a farmer with two acres. In a good year, he will make about
Rs 90,000. If he spends Rs 3,000 a month on running the house (Rs 36,000
annually) and another Rs 15,000 each on preparing for his kharif and rabi crops
(Rs 30,000), he is left with just Rs 24,000. Of that, if Rs 12,000 goes into
the school or college fees of his two children (assuming a minimal Rs 500 per
month per child), he is left with just Rs 12,000 to meet all other expenses.
Even
conservative arithmetic leaves no margin for acts of man or god. If there is an
illness in the family, if the crop sells at lower rates than expected, if the
rains are less than ideal – in the last decade, Punjab has seen six weak monsoons, resulting in only one of the two crops doing well – households go
into debt.
“In
Punjab, people who earn Rs 10,000 but have their own home live at subsistence
levels,” said Sucha Singh Gill, director-general of Chandigarh’s Centre for
Research in Rural and Industrial Development. “Those making Rs 10,000 but
living in a rented house live at semi-starvation levels.” A loss of control
Synchronous
with the decline of agriculture and industry is the unravelling of the social
milieu. “Before militancy, there was a certain Nehruvian idealism in the state
– a desire to make Punjab something,” said Sumail Singh Sidhu, former professor
at Delhi University’s Khalsa College and former state convenor for the Aam
Aadmi Party. There was also the ethos absorbed from progressive left movements.
The Sikh movements themselves had left, centrist and right wing schools.
All
that was crushed, partly by the sectarian Sikhs as the Khalistan movement took
shape, and partly by the state government. One visible outcome of it today is
the loss of local leadership. “The traditional activist is gone,” said human
rights activist and advocate RS Bains. “In terms of human character, they were
the best of people. They were truth-speakers. They wanted to change society.”
In this
vacuum, a new set of actors have emerged – like the extra-constitutional halka in-charge and other local elite, who have compensated for the power they
lost due to, say, the Dalits’ economic independence by drawing close to the ruling political party. And alongside the rise
of rapacious extra-constitutional power centres, gun culture has taken root in
the state.
In the
process, says Jagrup Singh Sekhon, a professor at Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev
University, the nature of Punjab’s villages has changed considerably. “Villages
today are faction-ridden. You are either with the Akali Dal or you are not.”
Village
life, as a result, is one of oppression and uncertainty. As the previous story
in this series reported, justice can be elusive. “We
cannot go to the police,” said Kishan Chand, a ghoda-gaadi wallah who lives in the poor quarters of Nurmahal town
in Jalandhar. “I can complain, but the police might get tapped by the other
side and register a case against me instead.” How the state responded
The
people of the state have responded in a number of ways. Addiction to drugs and
alcohol is high. Migration is on the rise. The state, judging by its pop
culture, is awash in nostalgia. Punjabi pop videos jive around memes of
machismo and imperilled romance before the hero brandishes a gun, launches into
fights, and sets things right.
“The
songs have guns, big houses, open jeeps, Royal Enfields,” said novelist Kali.
“Even as people struggle, caste ka
ghamand liye ghoom rahein hain." They are drawing arrogance from their
caste.
Another
response, says Ronki Ram, dean (faculty of arts) at Chandigarh’s Panjab
University, is the increasing escape into religiosity. “In their understanding
of causes, however, people are guided more by religion than rationality,” Ram
said. “That is because the central logic running through the people is
religion. Development is to be received through religion – not through
technical means.”
The
interesting development here, Kali notes, is that people are turning towards
the new gurus and away from orthodox religion. This is similar to what Scroll.in noticed in Odisha as well,
where there is a sharp rise in the number of religious gurus. “In the last ten
years, more than 50 matths have
opened in Bhubaneswar alone,” said Rama Ballav Pant, a former BJD leader. “They
are all self-appointed babas.”
The rise of new religious complexes
For an
observer from outside, the changing religious landscape of Punjab is
bewildering. The state has old, historic gurudwaras run by the Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, the apex body of the Sikhs. Then there are the
new Gurudwaras which, while not under the SGPC, follow its norms and preach
from the Guru Granth Sahib. And then there are the offshoots, and the
breakaways from Sikhism.
Some,
like the Ad Dharmis, are
caste-specific breakaways. Some are sects like the Radhasaomis, which has a
sprawling complex near Beas, a town between Jalandhar and Amritsar, and smaller
campuses across Punjab’s hinterland. Then there are the growing number of
living sants like Dera Sacha Sauda’s Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan
(and, till he was declared clinically dead, Baba Ashutosh of Divya Jyoti
Sansthan at Nurmahal).
These sants, says a former member of the SGPC,
are different from the preachers who set up new gurudwaras. While the preachers
preach from the Guru Granth Sahib, the new sants
have their own holy books, their own accounts of how the world came into being. A
matter of demand and supply
The first reason
people flock to these new sants is
tactical. As Sekhon says, life in Punjab’s villages has become faction-ridden
and hard. “In such a construct, who can save people
from the police, the patwari, the
village leaders? That is what takes people to the sants.”
These sants, with their mass following, form a
protective buffer between the state and the individual, since local leaders
listen to the sants.
Why?
Because, as Laxmi Kanta Chawla, a former health minister and BJP member, says,
the nature of political leaders in the state is changing. “These [leaders] are
people who have not done anything to build a following of their own. So they
have to pander to communities, leaders who can make them win.”
This influence over
politicians is one reason why the number of sants
is rising fast. “Someone might be working in another dera, but cannot become its leader or make a name of his own,” a businessman in Moga said, explaining the amoeba-like
multiplication of sants and deras. “So he either splits the dera, or starts one of his own. The new
leader usually gets someone – perhaps a follower of the original dera – to back him financially. They do
a few functions to which local leaders are invited, and thus the forging of
bonds begins.”
When
people see local leaders visiting the new dera,
they recognise it as a power centre and begin going there as well. “In a nearby
village called Barauli, three or four new deras
have come up,” said the businessman. “People are going there because they feel kaam
ho jayega ." The work will get done.
Much of this, says
Bains, is inevitable. “When formal institutions fail,
informal ones come up," he said. "Even in a dictatorship, informal channels will work.
Society mein networking to hota hain.” And these informal
institutions have always been put to instrumental use. As Sekhon says, “Every
system has patronised the deras – be
it the Centre, the militants or the state.”
What is
relatively new is the open, symbiotic relationship with politicians and the
capitalisation of the sants. The big
ones are very well-funded. They market themselves aggressively. They run
schools and health camps, and offer subsidised food. And at the new deras,canteens offer subsidised colas and chow mein, drawing in more
people with the novelty. Turning away from Sikhism
Novelty
apart, many people feel, the main reason for the popularity of the new sants is the perception that orthodox
Sikhism is failing them.
“When
you are frustrated, you seek external help, advice,” said Sarabjit Singh Verka,
an investigator with Punjab Human Rights Organisation. “And that is something
the gurudwaras are not very good at – they refer you back to the Guru Granth
Sahib. In contrast, in a dera, koi aapka kaam kara dega ." Someone will
get your work done.
Kali
agreed and drew a link between uncertainty and insecurity. “There is a
hopelessness. And then a process to save yourself starts.”
The
evening I met him in Jalandhar, Kali explained the move towards the deras with
an example. “Ab main bimaar hoon. Ab main
toot chuka hoon. Ab mera shabd se kuch nahin hoga. Ab mujhe deh ki zaroorat
hain (I am ailing. I am broken. The book doesn’t give me solace. Is that
book listening to me? Is it hearing me? I want a remedy for the specific things
ailing me. I want a human to hear me and respond to me).”
This,
he says, is pushing people towards the supernatural. Baba Deep Singh’s
Gurudwara is a case in point. People go there because, he said, “Wahan ek
shakti hain. Shaheed ki shakti (There is a force there. The force of a
martyr).” A view from the street of Baba Deep Singh's gurudwara. Credit: M RajshekharAlternately,
they go to the sants who prescribe
remedies. “In these deras, the baba
makes promises and prophecies,” said the Moga businessman. “The people for whom
the predictions come true tell others. And the following grows.”
This is
similar to what Scroll.in had heard
in Odisha. “Physical poverty and distress has a psychological and social effect
on people,” a person there had explained. “This belief in babas springs from there – be it Radhe Maa or Sarathi Baba. People
live in the hope that the guru will change the condition of their lives – an illness they cannot cure on their own,
lack of money, whatever.”
As Panjab
University’s Ronki Ram said, “People go to the new deras because they find them offering a vital space for recognition
and identity.” The inevitable fallout
The
flow of people towards deras and sants – at first a trickle, now a trend
– is in turn giving rise to questions about the future direction of Sikhism.
In a
sense, it is the continuation of an age-old process. Sikhism was an offshoot of
Hinduism; the Jatt Sikhs and others had broken off from mainstream Hinduism
over caste discrimination, and created for themselves a rational religion that
was more of a manifesto for social transformation, one that spoke about gender
and caste equality.
However,
over time, little of those ideals converted into practice. Caste discrimination
continued, resulting in Dalit groups like the Ad Dharmis splintering out of Sikhism, and eventually leaving it
entirely.
Today,
as a new set of marginalised people – the small farmers amongst Jatt Sikhs –
foray beyond Sikhism, the perception that Sikhism could be under threat is
again gaining ground among some.
Ronki
Ram does not agree with this assessment. “People go to the new deras because they are rational. There
is more to gain by going there. It is a strategic choice. But when the Sikh
gurudwaras see this, they get desperate, thinking people are leaving us.”
According
to him, what we are witnessing is not the decline of orthodox Sikhism but an
increased, escalating religiosity across the state. The number of agencies
propagating religion is going up. Some people are turning to Sikhism, others to
the deras. Some read the Guru Granth
Sahib, others pin their faith on books written by Valmiki. “Between them, dharam
aagey badh raha hain (The
state is getting more religious).” And all this, he says, is playing out in the
absence of development.
Where
is this trend leading the state? The answer is anyone’s guess, says Ram. “A
rise in religiosity can give rise to new confrontations. People will get angry
not because their survival is in danger, but because they think they are
discriminated against due to their religion. Therefore, they reason, if they
save their religion, they will save themselves.”
All
this, in turn, can lead to a rise in militant defence of emerging religions,
and a consequent escalation of social tensions.
Gun-loving India 'god-woman' who shot wedding guests
Image copyrightManoj DhakaImage caption
Sadhvi Deva Thakur (left) is often photographed holding guns
Sadhvi Deva Thakur,
a self-proclaimed Indian god-woman who was on the run for three days
after firing celebratory shots in the air at a wedding, has surrendered
to a court. The groom's aunt was killed and three of his relatives
critically wounded in the incident. The BBC's Geeta Pandey profiles this
controversial preacher.
In a video
of the incident that took place on Tuesday in the northern state of
Haryana, Sadhvi Deva Thakur is first seen firing from a revolver and
then a double-barrelled gun. A few of her guards are also seen shooting
along with her.
Indian media reports quoted stunned guests at the
wedding as saying that the Sadhvi, which is the Hindi word for holy
woman or god woman, walked up to the dance floor, asked the DJ to play a
song of her choice, and began dancing.
And, much to the horror of everyone around, shooting. Why attending an Indian wedding can be dangerous Radhe Ma: Why is India's 'godwoman' in the news?
Reports said families of both the bride and the groom pleaded with her to stop, but their entreaties fell on deaf ears.
It
was only when the groom's 50-year-old aunt collapsed after being hit by
a stray bullet and three others were critically injured, that the
firing stopped.
In the confusion that followed, the Sadhvi and her six guards escaped.
Police
registered a case of murder against the seven and, on Friday, the
Sadhvi surrendered in a magistrate's court. She has been remanded to
police custody for five days. Her guards are still on the run.
"I
am innocent. I didn't do anything wrong. It's a conspiracy against me,"
she told reporters after her surrender. "I'm very sad that someone died
at that event," she added.
Image copyrightManoj DhakaImage caption
Sadhvi Deva Thakur turned herself in on Friday and was remanded in police custody
But this is not the first time that Sadhvi Thakur,
vice-president of a fringe Hindu organisation All India Hindu Mahasabha,
has been in the news for the wrong reasons.
Last year, police
registered a case against her for saying that Muslims and Christians
must undergo sterilisation to restrict their growing populations.
"The
population of Muslims and Christians is growing every day. To control
this, the government should bring in a law to stop Muslims and
Christians from producing so many children. They should be forced to
undergo sterilisation so that they can't increase their numbers," she
told a gathering.
The Sadhvi said she agreed with some Hindu nationalist leaders' suggestion that Hindu women must have more children to counter the threat of becoming a minority religion in their own country.
"How do you compete with a line that keeps getting longer? You draw a line next to it that's even longer," she said.
Image copyrightManoj DhakaImage caption
There is little known about the controversial Sadhvi
In another controversial remark, the DNA newspaper
quoted her as saying that idols of Hindu gods and goddesses should be
placed in mosques and churches and that a statue of Nathuram Godse, the
assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, should be installed in Haryana.
The
Sadhvi was born and grew up in Bras, a small village in Karnal district,
and a few years ago set up an ashram in her village. She has a small
following and most of her followers are local villagers.
A local journalist says she is a known publicity-seeker with a fancy lifestyle.
The
27-year-old is always dressed in saffron robes from head to toe. She
appears to have a fondness for gold jewellery, and guns.
Her Facebook page,
managed by her brother Rajeev Thakur, describes her as the director of
the Deva India Foundation and has her proclaiming to be "a nationalist".
Image copyrightManoj DhakaImage caption
The Sadhvi has a small following and most of her followers are local villagers
She joined the Hindu Mahasabha two years ago.
Dharampal
Siwach, a senior Hindu Mahasabha member in Haryana, told the BBC that
he travelled along with the Sadhvi to their party's Delhi headquarters
two years ago.
"She was appointed as the national vice-president of the party after I lobbied on her behalf," he said.
"But
soon we stopped inviting her to our functions and events because she
was getting photographed with guns and that made us very uncomfortable."
The video of Tuesday's tragic incident is a testimony to her
love for weaponry. And this time, it seems, she may have shot herself in
the foot.
The prime attraction of today’s guru is that he or she is accessible to all. In circumstances that breed despair, the guru becomes the healer, the confidant, and the protective patriarch or matriarch
Newspaper reports on the Jawahar Bagh killings in Mathura followed in quick succession accounts of the extravaganza hosted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the floodplain of the Yamuna in Delhi. Both reports reinforce convictions that our world is best described as topsy-turvy. There was a time when statesmen like Jawaharlal Nehru believed that religion was dangerous because it convinced followers that hunger, filth and misery were their natural lot. Today god-men, accomplished practitioners of the art of politics, wield considerable power and political clout. But they wilfully overlook, and thereby sanction misery, hunger and filth.
Consider the paradoxes of this rapidly growing phenomenon. Men of god are expected to be renouncers. New-age gurus dress in flashy apparel, travel in luxurious private planes, host celebrations attended by pomp and splendour, and endeavour to arouse shock and awe among devotees. Ministers, Supreme Court judges, high-ranking bureaucrats, police officers, corporate honchos, and media personalities genuflect at the feet of self-styled gurus. Never have religious leaders fetched such unthinking obeisance, and untrammelled power as they do today. It is not surprising that they have neither time nor inclination to do something about the ills of our society.
Down the ages
This was not always so. In all religions, visionary spiritual leaders have challenged hierarchies and disparities, exploitation and discrimination of the community. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the Bhakti movement launched a powerful attack on caste-based discrimination in Hinduism. Till today the subversive poetry authored by Kabir is remembered, recited and sung. “Pandit,” he addressed the Brahmin, “look in your heart to know. Tell me how untouchability was born — untouchability is what you made so.”
Right up till the turn of the twentieth century, a number of religious leaders driven by the quest for a moral order, and fired by the belief that untouchability was a later appendage to Hinduism, tried to retrieve the spiritual essence of the religion. Over the millennia, others threw up their metaphorical hands in despair, broke away and established new religions — Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Hinduism, smudged deeply by social exclusion, became the object of struggle, the target of social reform movements, and often the butt of ridicule.
Do we see any of this questioning by cults today? Perhaps not. Self-styled gurus can hardly launch a critique of a system of which they are the beneficiaries. When the ‘spiritual’ leader of the infamous Swadheen Bharat Subhas Sena, Jai Gurudev, died in 2012, he reportedly left property and land worth Rs.12,000 crore, a school, a petrol pump, a temple that secured him immortality, ashrams, assets, and luxury cars. Hinduism is a religion that teaches detachment; ironically, leaders of cults are passionately attached to worldly possessions, power and pelf. Their power is on public display. Certainly, Indians have bowed their foreheads before gurus, renouncers, holy men, savants and peripatetic sadhus since time immemorial. But these transactions between believers and faith leaders were private, confidential and sacrosanct. These days transactions are public affairs; conspicuously orchestrated mega-events are televised and breathlessly consumed by a global constituency.
Soulless world and leaders
Why do then thousands of people flock to new-age gurus on show? Perhaps there is an answer. Within the tradition, the guru spent many years mastering philosophical knowledge because his role was that of a medium between individuals and the divine. He himself was never the divine. Yet access to the spiritual leader was restricted through elaborate rituals of exclusion of castes and often women.
The prime attraction of today’s guru is that he/she is accessible to all. The gates of spiritual wisdom have been thrown open, gatekeepers have been dispensed with, and religious philosophy has been democratised. Whether the leader himself is a democrat is questionable. But that does not matter for people who have been left rudderless in a world of vulgar consumerism and stark disparities. They have lost confidence in their ability to negotiate the demands of a market-driven society. In capitalist society the value of a person is judged by the value of her possessions. Individuals themselves become commodities at considerable cost to their self-esteem and assurance.
Social norms breed despair, and the guru becomes the healer, the confidant, and the protective patriarch or matriarch. In a commodity-driven world, where ordinary people lurch — like a fragile raft on stormy waters — from one crisis to another, religion becomes as Marx had said, “the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of the soulless condition.” The problem is not with religion, it is with this soulless world that many seek to negotiate with the help of a religious leader.
The quest for reassurance and validation of the self through face-to-face interaction with a local deity, or saint or a god-man is not new. In Punjab, for years Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs worshipped together at roadside shrines, or at the tomb of a Sufi saint. In the town of Malerkotla, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs offer money, jewels, and cooked sweet rice at the mazaar of Sheikh Sadr-ud-Din, the founder of Malerkotla and a Sufi saint. Thousands of people visit a fair held on the first Thursday of every month. In 1904 the author of the Malerkotla Gazetteer wrote in a puzzled mien, “It is strange that these fairs are mostly attended by Hindus though Sadr-ud-Din was a Muslim saint.” This is a town of Sufi tombs, temple bells hang in front of mosques, and Om is tattooed on the hands of the keeper of the shrine. Notably Malerkotla has never witnessed a communal riot, simply because joint worship created a political community. It is debatable whether modern gurus teach followers to live in harmony with other fellow beings. At best, they teach instant moksha, at worst they exploit followers.
Hindutva versus god-men
Ironically personalised worship to a new-age guru has recreated multiple centres of belief that are characteristic of Hinduism. Historians tell us that the unified religion we call Hinduism is a colonial construct, because it were colonial administrators and missionaries who lumped various groups, philosophies, faiths, and ideologies under the umbrella term ‘Hinduism’. Neo-Hindu leaders, buffeted by criticism of practices sanctioned by Hinduism, responded to the colonial encounter by projecting a pan-Indian religion.
Over time this religion provided identity and inspiration to sections of the nationalist movement. V.D. Savarkar refused to accept that Hinduism is of relatively recent provenance, and suggested that the religion goes back into ancient time. He called it Hindutva, an ideology that forms the crux of the homogenising project of the religious Right. The irony is that Hindutva can only go so far, it contributes to identity formation through differentiation, but it cannot fill empty or half-filled pockets, give jobs, assure dignity, promise security, or allay insecurities and complexes. That only an urban-based guru or a cult, which has replaced the traditional roadside shrine, can give.
The contradiction is that even if gurudom feeds into the project of Hindutva, spiritual leaders exercise, for the state, dangerous autonomy. For example, Jawahar Bagh developed into an independent township within the precincts of a sovereign India. Its inhabitants established an economy, an educational system, a currency, and imparted training in violence to the children. They also created a rather wacky political and economic agenda, but one that posed a challenge to the government. That gurus influence considerably the electoral fortunes of the local candidate is the worst-kept secret in India. That is why politicians court them.
We know that Hindutva is fractured along the lines of caste and class. But it is also a brittle construct because it has to compete with personalised religious cults for the loyalties of citizens. Over time, the project is bound to come a cropper, because what we call Hinduism is nothing but a time-bound coalition of cults, religious groups, personalised modes of worship and localised gods. These relentlessly subvert the homogenising ideology of Hindutva. For the rational, god-men are irrational, for the votaries of Hindutva they provide a rather major headache.
Neera Chandhoke is a former Professor of Political Science, Delhi University.
The world of godmen: Sublime and the ridiculous
TNN | Jun 6, 2016, 03.24 AM IST
There are godmen, and there are godmen. While notoriety gains the media's and people's immediate attention, the quiet ones continue with their work with zeal, and in good faith, with no expectation of 'coverage'.
Swadheen Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah in UP's Mathura district, whose followers fatally clashed with the police last week, is just one of the many such controversial cults in the country with massive assets and a purblind supporters, with their heads facing allegations ranging from land grab to fraud, and from rape to murder.
The unbridled violence and lawlessness brought back images of violence in Haryana's Hisar district in 2014 when the police arrested a former state government employee calling himself a man of faith, Rampal, after a two-week tense stand-off. Six people were killed in the violence then, with the godman's "commando force" waging the final battle to "protect" their chief from cops.
Rampal, who had defied court summons in a murder case, was later with slapped with sedition charges. Authorities evacuated more than 10,000 people from the ashram, many of whom said they were held against their wishes -- they were hostage to a bizarre, cinematic or surreal villain in some C grade Bollywood fixture.
Asaram is another godman who wielded huge influence and power until the law caught up with him -- he's in jail since 2013 on rape charges. Several people who deposed against him have been attacked, and some killed. His empire includes 400 ashrams in the country and abroad, where he organised "spiritual discourses" and became famous for his colourful headgear and sprightly dancing.
Then, Nirmaljeet Singh Narula alias Nirmal Baba, who repeatedly failed as a businessman in Jharkhand, drew dubious publicity with his durbars and gatherings that were astonishingly telecast by three dozen Indian and foreign channels. At these events, Nirmal Baba gave solutions like eating chutney to solve financial problems. He faces allegations of fraudulent activities.
Last Friday in Odisha, that has a strong temple heritage and many cults, officials razed an illegal complex on 20 acres of forest land near Konark sun temple by one Bana baba. He is absconding. People also set fire to one Sura Baba's ashram for land grab. He too was arrested. The ashram of one Anand Atma was also ransacked after a half-burnt body of a local youth was found.
[. . .]
Witnesses killings carried out on ‘behalf of Asaram’, reveals shooter
Karthik Haldar, who was picked up from Chhattisgarh, has allegedly named Asaram in his statement before the police, suggesting he was a conspirator in all the murders.
Written by Satish Jha | Ahmedabad | Updated: March 16, 2016 8:53 am
The alleged shooter, who is accused of killing three witnesses and attempting to kill four others in the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, has reportedly told the Ahmedabad Police that the killings were carried out “on behalf of Asaram”.
Karthik Haldar, who was picked up from Chhattisgarh, has allegedly named Asaram in his statement before the police, suggesting he was a conspirator in all the murders. On Tuesday, Haldar was produced before a metropolitan court that sent him in police custody for four days.
A police officer, who interrogated him, said, “A few months back Karthik and others (suspects who are yet to be arrested) had gone to meet Asaram in Jodhpur jail. This is on record since they met him by registering names with their identity cards. Therefore, we can’t rule out the possibility that Asaram knew about the killings.”
About the 2009 attack on Raju Chandak, another Asaram follower, in Ahmedabad, Karthik has reportedly claimed that the act was carried out at the “behest of Asaram”. He has alleged that Chandak was attacked for speaking against the godman before the justice D K Trivedi Commission appointed to probe the mystery deaths of two children at Asaram’s Motera ashram.
Karthik has been handed over to Ahmedabad Police’s Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) that is probing the firing on Lala Thakor, a resident of Chandkheda in the city. Thakor, who narrowly escaped an attack, reportedly had a property dispute with Asaram.
Fear of the future makes people seek out spiritual gurus in search of reassurance. And that is why a thousand Radhe Maas flourish
India is famous for Basmati rice, yoga, Gandhi and, of course, spiritualism. Sadhus and sants dot the country, ranging from the lone, bearded baba under the village tree to swamis who live luxurious lives with a battery of attendants and devotees doing their bidding.
Clairvoyant, spiritual guru, representative of god — godmen and women in India have been called these and much more. They are in the news again, thanks to Radhe Maa of Mumbai who has been accused by a woman of instigating her in-laws to harass her for dowry.
All of us have heard from friends, relatives, acquaintances, even strangers, of how they met a baba or mataji and their lives changed forever. Their businesses picked up, the childless got a child, ‘problems’ sorted themselves out… in short, it was happiness all the way.
Most seek the help (guidance?) of godmen not for spiritual purposes but for improving their material lives. Will I get a promotion or will my colleague beat me to it; will I get the party ticket to contest elections, if yes, will I win; will my new venture make profits — these are some of the typical ‘problems’ for which people seek ‘guidance’ or answers.
These issues stem from fear – fear of the uncertain. Humans love to peep into the future and when they are assured by their baba or mataji that all will be well (if not today, then tomorrow), they heave a sigh of relief. When some of their problems are resolved, thanks to some luck and the normal course of things, they attribute it to miracles (‘even the doctors had given up hope’) and the protective hand of the guru.
Dependency syndrome
But what of the price people pay for such assurance of ‘happiness unlimited’? By seeking the help of godmen and clairvoyants, people turn away from reality. Even the educated and rational become vulnerable when a slew of problems strikes them. Indeed, in most instances, the devotee is assured that it is his good karma that brought him to the spiritual guide in the first place (‘not everyone can get the swamiji’s darshan,’ he is assured). People start believing that all good things that happen to them are thanks to the blessings bestowed on them, and all the bad things will eventually pass, if they follow their guruji’s advice (which may range from an appeal for a modest contribution to demands for huge sums of money to propitiate the gods). Before they realise it, they become dependent on these so-called gurus for their physical, emotional and financial well-being. The search for quick-fix solutions and the lack of courage renders them incapable of facing the day-to-day challenges of life.
Why are our godmen and women so successful? Most of them come from humble backgrounds, start in a small way and, within a few years, have a huge following with swanky ashrams, temples and loads of money. No business model can explain their exponential growth. Almost always, they claim they are an incarnation of god. A police officer, for instance, claimed that Lord Krishna appeared in his dreams and told him he was Radha. Soon, a halo is created around them by a few people, which is then publicised to attract more devotees to the fold. Stories of miracles are meticulously spread.
The matajis and babas acquire a cult status once politicians and celebrities, ever ready to exploit anything that can remotely benefit them, enter the scene. Thanks to political patronage, adulation and publicity, it is not long before dollars and foreign tours start flowing in. The heady mix of money, power and religion without responsibility, and the knowledge that even the state is scared of meddling with religious affairs, make godmen and women acquire a larger-than-life image. Many invest in hospitals, ashrams and educational institutions, which increases their popularity.
Religious sanction
What sets them apart from politicians, celebrities and businessmen is the religious sanction of their influence, which they exploit to the fullest. They no longer seek or appeal for donations; they place orders. There are reports in the media of people who sell their property, even abandon their families at the command of their so-called gurus.
What is baffling is the continued following sants and gurujis command even after allegations of sex, sleaze and crime are levelled against them. Swami Premananda, once hailed as a spiritual leader, was sentenced to life for rape and murder. Other religious leaders have been accused of similar crimes and more. But their followers live in denial; those who make the allegations are sidelined, threatened, even silenced. Sadhus and sadhvis, it would seem, can do no wrong. Any challenge to their authority is perceived as a challenge to religion itself. The fear of antagonising the gods in whose name godmen and women thrive, and the fear of reprisal prevent many from speaking out.
Ours is a country where religion is fed to people on a daily basis, and spiritual gurus are held in great awe and respect. It has produced many eminent spiritual leaders who have worked for the welfare of people, showing them the path to salvation. This is perhaps the reason people believe that those who preach in the name of god can do no wrong.
All religions preach spirituality. But it is necessary to remember that spiritualism is also about giving up materialism, not promoting it in the name of religion. A guru or guide should ideally help realise one’s spiritual dream, not promise the world to his or her devotees in exchange for money, land or patronage. Anyone who claims to speak on behalf of god and broker deals with god for a commission can hardly be trusted to elevate a person spiritually.
But then, till people realise that life has its ups and downs and no one except them can fight their everyday battles, swamijis and matajis will continue to prosper. They will continue to promise quick fixes in the name of the god they claim to represent and who has ordained them to provide salvation to humanity – that part of humanity which is willing to submit and asks no questions.
Chandigarh, Nov. 19: Narendra Modi may have been a huge crowd-puller for the BJP in the run-up to last month’s Assembly elections in Haryana, but the party’s phenomenal progress from four to 47 seats might not have been possible without the support of so-called “godmen”.
Sources said leaders of all parties had visited the ashrams and deras of these self-styled godmen such as Rampal and the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to seek the votes of their supporters.
“Local leaders and even some candidates from both the Congress and the BJP had approached Rampal to get his supporters to vote for their parties in the elections. While some announce their support in their discourses, others simply spread the word by mouth, which Rampal did. It is a normal practice but it depends on the supporters who to vote for. The BJP did approach us for support and benefited,” Rampal’s spokesperson Raj Kapur, who was arrested today, said.
Rampal’s Satlok Ashram claims a following of 25 lakh, mostly in Haryana and adjoining states. The Dera Sacha Sauda claims over 60 lakh members in Haryana alone.
At least 44 BJP candidates are said to have met Gurmeet Singh a week before the day Haryana voted. Sources said BJP chief Amit Shah, too, had met Singh a few days earlier. Two days after the candidates met him, the Dera Sacha Sauda announced its “open support” for the BJP.
“Film stars are there to be seen and godmen to be heard by the voters. There is nothing wrong in seeking their support,” a BJP leader said. “If Rampal secured some votes for us, he may have promised votes to other parties also.”
Religious leaders, unlike film stars, don’t usually urge followers in public to support a particular candidate or party. They convey the message to confidants, who pass the word on to the followers.
The disciples usually follow the instructions, making the so-called godmen sought-after vote magnets. In return for their support, the “godmen” expect land to expand their ashrams and clout if “their candidates” win.
Instead of choosing the easier and more sensible option of surrendering to the police, Sant Rampal put at risk the lives and limbs of his band of supporters.
Some godmen and religious cult leaders often have an exaggerated sense of their own importance: they sometimes end up believing what they tell their fanatic followers. In evading arrest for days together by making his supporters create a ring of protection around him in his ashram, the self-styled ‘jagat guru’ Sant Rampal not only showed utter disregard for the law of the land, but also supreme confidence in his ability to keep law enforcers at bay. Despite a court order calling for his arrest in a contempt case, the police struggled to get close to the godman in his ashram in Hisar. Intent to avoid a violent confrontation in the ashram, the police chose to play the waiting game, without trying to force their way past the crowd of Rampal supporters. But the water cannons, tear gas shells, and lathis of the police were met with gunfire, Molotov cocktails and acid pouches of the followers. Indeed, Sant Rampal seemed to be enjoying being at the centre of all this attention. In his calculations, the longer the stand-off between his followers and the police, the better it would be for his own popularity. The clashes with the police were designed to add inches to his larger-than-life image. Thus, instead of choosing the easier and more sensible option of surrendering to the police, the Sant put at risk the lives and limbs of his band of supporters.
Worryingly, five women and a child have died in the ashram during the stand-off. While the cause of the deaths is still under investigation, there is little doubt that the use of a human shield by the godman had unpleasant consequences. Fresh cases of waging war against the state filed against him are not going to deter the Sant or his group of blind followers who seem to thrive on controversies. Sant Rampal’s rise to fame was not that of the usual godman. Claiming to be an incarnation of Kabir, the mystic poet-saint of 15th century India, Rampal rose to fame not only by preaching, but also by attacking other spiritual leaders and politicians and influential people. Indeed, his disdain for the law and for those in power seems to be part of the attraction for his followers. While the police did the right thing by exercising care and restraint in pushing back his supporters, the impression that the godman could defy the court and the law indefinitely gained ground. There could have been no resolution of the stand-off without the arrest of Sant Rampal. There was nothing to be gained by appealing to the Sant to see reason, and a peaceful end to this confrontation could never have been quick.
Cheat Sheet | Edited by Deepshikha Ghosh | Updated: November 19, 2014 14:06 IST
5 Dead at Rampal's Ashram Including 18-Month-Old: 10 Developments
Controversial guru Rampal's ashram at Hisar in Haryana after clashes on Tuesday
Hisar, Haryana: Five bodies including that of an 18-month-old infant were found at controversial guru Rampal's ashram in Haryana's Hisar, where thousands of his supporters clashed with the police on Tuesday and used bombs, stones and gunfire to try and stop his arrest in connection with a murder case.
63-year-old Rampal, an engineer-turned-guru, has been charged with sedition and rioting, the police said today.
Faceoff in Hisar: police versus a godman’s ‘commando force’
by Dipankar Ghose , Varinder Bhatia | Barwala (hisar) | Posted: November 10, 2014 4:30 am
Four days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a non-bailable warrant against a self-styled godman, Sant Rampal, and his aide, Ram Kumar Dhaka, for failing to appear before it in a case related to contempt of court, his supporters here on Sunday organised themselves into a “commando protection force” and said they would not allow the police to take him.
Through the day, a group of over 200 men, armed with helmets, sticks and other weapons, stood guard at the gates of the Satlok Ashram in Barwala. “We have formed a commando protection force, and will not allow anyone inside the ashram. We have formed two human chains, and have been given helmets to protect ourselves. Everyone will be deployed in shifts,” said one person, carrying a flag which said ‘Sat Sena’.
Over a lakh devotees gathered inside the ashram, pledging that the “unjust administration would only be able to reach Baba over our dead bodies”. Many, including women and the elderly, came for a “satsang”, but said they would fight for their Baba. [. . .].
It has been brought to our notice that hundreds, if not thousands of posters (Image Pasted with petition ) have suddenly been observed in all trains leaving Gujarat state. The contents of these posters with the provocative heading “Why is There a Conspiracy Against Sadhu Sants in Bharat?” is a clearcut effort to communalise the atmosphere ahead of the state elections in over five states and also impact on the next year’s general elections.
It may be recalled that on the eve of the last state elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had officially circulated a CD that contained malevolent utterances against the Muslim minority community. The Election Commission had initiated prompt and immediate action in this regard. This is being pointed out to illustrate that there is an established pattern to this and this is not an isolated incident
Legal options closing, Asaram Bapu tries charm on believers
Akash Deep Ashok New Delhi, October 15, 2013 | UPDATED 00:09 IST
With the long arm of the law around him and unwilling to relax, self-styled godman Asaram Bapu wants an appeal in what he calls the highest court: the court of the people.
On his official website, in a new section titled 'False allegations on Pujya Bapuji', new banners have appeared reading 'Public outrage after conspiracy against Bapuji'. There are videos titled 'psychological reasons about (sic) conspiracy', 'why Bapuji is targeted' while one video icon has a picture on Asaram and is titled 'Mahapurushon ki karuna'. Another icon titled 'world wide (sic) protests coverage' has tens of pictures of protests purportedly from across the globe.
That's not all. His followers, who can very well be mercenaries, are spotted in trains and buses in sundry cities distributing pamphlets about the media trial of the godman and his total innocence. This writer was witness to one such group of women being hounded out by angry passengers aboard the Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi a couple of weeks ago. Besides, Surat police has also come across pamphlets printed in Hindi claiming that the rape complaints are part of conspiracy against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. The pamphlet blames political parties, police and media for running the campaign. Police are now looking for the source of the pamphlets.
But the godman, who still wears an adorned crown in thousands of posters, put up all over the religious and non-religious cities across India is not the hate guy all of a sudden. All this began with his controversial statement on the Delhi gangrape victim in December 2012. TV channels had shown Asaram telling his followers about the gangrape victim: "She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop...This could have saved her dignity and life. Can one hand clap? I don't think so." His unwelcome comments had led to huge protests at various places in the country.
What followed was a change of mood in the people. In February this year, his followers were beaten up and their vehicles burnt in a school in Ahmedabad. The Asaram Ashram Trust members had cracked a deal with the school authorities to organise the programme allegedly without disclosing their identity. However, when they put up a huge photo of the godman at the venue, people became furious and started pelting stones. This was in his home state. He was not welcome elsewhere also. Early this year, several outfits opposed Asaram's visit to the Allahabad kumbh and a camp set up for his discourse at the kumbh mela ground was vandalised.
The lakhs, who once heard him speak on devotional TV channels about the merits of ascetic life from his decked out throne and those who have had even once the privilege of sprinkling with marigold the red carpet that took the godman's holy feet from his various Mercs and BMWs to his throne, are in a state of disbelief. However, the father-son duo has not given up yet. They are trying everything under their hat to keep their support base intact.
Asaram Bapu’s alleged sexual assault on a young girl offers an opportunity to throw light and lift the veil on the state-temple-corporate complex. By MEERA NANDA
