The government should seriously think on applying checks on charlatans/ Dhongi babas

SUNIL NEGI

The arrests of so called self styled, high profile Godmen Bapu Asha Ram and Gurmeet Ram Rahim on the serious obnoxious charges of rapes of their own disciples , now behind bars with the rigorous imprisonment of several years have open serious debate on the existence of other such notorious spiritual leaders n charlatans who are still active and leading  lavish life styles manipulating and exploiting the passionate religious n spiritual sentiments of millions of their followers all over India. It is not that all spiritual leaders are bad or carry the image of charlatans but it’s also true that due to the misdeeds n utterly shameful and obnoxious acts of the few the entire community of the saints n Godmen has come under suspicion. India is a vast country of diverse religion, cultures, communities, castes, and sects. Majority population here is less educated, rather illiterates and have tremendous faith in religious practices including miracles of these so called Babas. It is a known n established fact and rather a rule that wherever there will be socio economic insecurity, the people of that society tend to be more religious, spiritual and orthodox believing and relying on the supernatural powers of God for the redressal of their grievances n untold miseries and it is primarily this very feeling of socio economic and psychological insecurity that encourages the people or devotees, particularly the illiterates and less educated to seek the patronage of these self-styled Godmen, spiritual leaders or charlatans who not only take advantage of the insecure sentiments or passions of these chauvinistic bhaktas but also exploit maximum wealth or money from them. These ardent disciples include a large number of women, people from the rural areas, less educated businessmen and even the educated private and government sector employees. These charlatans slowly and gradually after amassing unaccounted wealth through regular subscriptions or donations from their blind disciples develop their aura in such an outstanding and extraordinary way through their well-trained agents that they are regarded as extraordinary Gurus portraying themselves as GODMEN who can rid them ( their disciples) of all complexities come what may. After increasing their commune’s following they establish contacts with the political parties and their leaders and extend them support during elections against favors in different forms. This is what Gurmeet Ram Rahim has done. He extended his commune’s support to Akali Dal in Punjab and Congress, BJP in Haryana during the state and national elections claiming himself to be the undisputed religious Leader of over 5 crore followers worldwide. It was because of this particular favor extended to these parties by Gurmeet Ram Rahim that the investigating officer of CBI one Narayanan( an upright officer of impeccable integrity belonging to southern India) who has now retired as DSP, was allegedly pressurized by several Congress Member of Parliaments to give up investigating the rape case against the former, under threats. Similarly, the BJP in Haryana granted favour to the Godman by allegedly clandestinely allowing  his family to leave Haryana with unaccounted cash and documents including allowing hundreds of thousands of Dera supporters and followers unite n create rampage in various parts of Panchkula n Haryana on the day and after the conviction and arrest of rapist Baba Guru Ram RAHIM. This is indeed India’ s misfortune that our enforcement agencies are not serious in applying stringent checks on these so called charlatans under the guise of being spiritual leaders resolving all their problems etc and getting outright political patronage. From Chandraswamy, one time Guru of international arms dealer Adnan KHASHOGGI n friend of the then Prime MINISTER Narasimha Rao to some of the rapist Babas’ of South to charlatans like Asha Ram, spiritual guru Nirmal Baba, Radhe Maa to Ichadhari Baba Ram Murat Dwivedi to Radhe Maa to finally  Gurmeet Ram etc India has become a nation of ridicule due to the highly unethical wrong doings of the CHARLATANS. There are still spiritual gurus enjoying political power as ministers and members of parliament n even MLAs after having exploited the religious and spiritual passions and sentiments of millions of the families and followers who genuinely trust on their spiritual capabilities and stewardship but these so called Gurus, later on, betray them outrightly and seek undue political advantage by enjoying the fruits and glamour of power. Now it is enough, the government at the center as well as in the states should come out with a law to tax these communes, religious sect leaders and their vast unaccounted wealth and properties in order to curb their unlawful and illegal activities in the future course of time. In addition to this, the government should also come out with a mobilization campaign to educate people against such dubious Godmen and charlatans under the guise of wearing saffron and issuing sermons on television irrespective of their religious affiliations. What do u say, friends?