Why is the state pussy-footing when godmen are drumming up hundreds of crores in shady businesses, and are proven sexual predators? Why does it take a tragedy like Hathras to bring the dusty issue back on the table?
‘Bhole Baba’, formerly Constable Suraj Pal Singh, was the organizer of a ‘Satsang’ at Hathras where a stampede ensued and killed off 121. He wears white suits and designer sunglasses and has a wide following among Dalit women in UP. The state government has suspended half a dozen local officers but Bhole Baba, holed up in his Mainpuri Ashram, remains free.
Not even an F.I.R. against him! Shouldn’t the chief of the religious order take the hit for overcrowding and neglecting security precautions? The Special Investigation Team (SIT) does not think so. In its report it has said it was “the organizers’ fault and negligence by the Police and administration.” Justifying the whitewash, they fear arresting ‘Bhole Baba’ could become a ‘law and order’ problem.
In the case of Baba Ramdev, the battle to stop the marketing of suspect drugs has going on for years. It is only after an angry Supreme Court cried halt that 14 black-listed products have been taken off the shelves by the Baba’s company, Patanjali Ayurved. These included eyedrops that claimed a cure for glaucoma and cataract, and ‘Coronil’, advertised as the answer to the Covid-19 virus.
This free run to Patanjali for over a decade was only possible as the Union Ministry of Ayush – the monitoring authority – turned a blind eye to the violations.
Baba networking
Baba Ramdev has grown commercially popularizing yoga, and hooking on to the penchant for traditional ‘grandmother’ medicines. Though ayurveda is a medical science, many of Ramdev’s ‘remedies’ are proven duds. His ‘baba’ posture and his athletic PRhas been cleverly used to build the Patanjali Group into an over-Rs 1,600 crore business enterprise.
Godmen in India, like everywhere else, pose as the bridge between humans and God. They use fear, despair, and the craving to leave the misery of the daily grind. They offer a supernatural answer to the woes on earth via ‘hope’ and ‘miracles’. They take credit for what in most cases is a natural occurrence. A baby boy born, a cure for a medical affliction are usually normal biological processes – but for the believer, it is the talisman or the blessing of the Godman.
And then there are the Godmen of the rich, and the Godmen of the poor. Tantrik Jagadacharya Chadraswami, born Nimichand Jain, has vanished into oblivion but in the Rajiv Gandhi era he was the rich man’s Godman. His is a typical case of building followership through association. That he was the spiritual guru of three Prime Ministers – P.V. Narasimha Rao, Chandra Shekhar and V.P. Singh – made him fashionable.
In between zipping on businessman Adnan Khashoggi’s yacht and partying in the Mediterranean with the Sultan of Brunei, Chandraswami gave discourses that justified material pleasure to those uncomfortable with their riches. There was also ‘Bhagwan Rajneesh’. Guru to thousands of flowerchildren swaying to opiates, he preached a practical path of detached redemption here-and-now.
How Guru power works
The Godman business works because it has the patronage of those in power. Prime Ministers, senior IAS officers, judges andcorporate heads lean on spiritual gurus for both philosophical solace and daily decision-making. Chitra Ramakrishna, former National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEO, publicly acknowledged she was professionally guided by a Himalayan Yogi ‘Sironmani’ for over 20 years.
The flipside is the government also fears the ‘mass’ gurus for the clout they wield. Sample the case of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, preacher, songwriter and movie producer. As head of the Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), a messianic body of Dalit devotees drawn from Punjab, Haryana and other northern states, Gurmeet has openly exhorted his supporters cast their political vote on his direction.
Currently serving a 20-year sentence for murder and rape, he holds the record for the number of paroles he has been given. After his ninth parole in January this year, the Punjab & Haryana High Court had to step in to stop the malpractice. Despite his incarceration, Ram Rahim’s financial clout is legend, and estimated at Rs 1,453 crore.
Beyond the dark business practices, many of these Godmen are serial sexual predators and must be halted. There is no shortage of teeth like the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 that defines ‘rape’. But will the government use them?
Then there is the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 which prohibits advertisements of drugs and remedies that claim to have magical properties, and makes them a cognizable offence.
Maharashtra has its own Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice, and Black Magic Act, 2013, which should be extended to the rest of the country. The act criminalizes practices related to black magic, human sacrifices, and use of magic remedies which exploit people’s superstitions. It was lobbied and drafted by well-known rationalist, Narendra Dabholkar; but the irony is he fell to a messianic right-wing assassin’s bullet in 2013.