My Short Journey with Convicted Aasaram Bapu

My Short Journey with Convicted Aasaram 'Bapu'

As the Director of the Board of the company and COO, I was the frequent traveler to Rewa to my soya and mustard processing factory. 

Once Aasaram Bapu was my co-passenger in flight from Varanasi to Khajuraho. He was going on his tour to deliver sermons in various places in MP.

I had a chance to interact with him the one-on-one basis during flight for about 45 minutes. As soon as he entered the aircraft he started introducing him to all foreign tourists in flight and started showing his newspaper cuttings and in-house newsletter of his ashram called 'Rishi Prashad". Many passengers and air hostesses were keen to have the photo with him.

After few minutes, he came and sat next to me. We exchanged greetings and he started chatting with me. Once I introduced my area of expertise, Imagine what we were discussing - he was keen to know how and when to sell his soybean stocks and at what price. He or his trust has huge tracks of land and about 400 ashrams countrywide. He was very upset that his people sold soybean at much lower price than prevailing market price.

We discussed many things. He knew how to use the system and poor villagers to his commercial benefits. He told me to let us work together for mutual benefit and meet again. He has enough resources and contacts to undertake any business operations. 

I knew this will never be the clean dealing and I was not keen to keep the communication.

But, in 45 minutes, it was very clear that his whole spirituality is actually a very clever business model to extract funds and benefits from all sides. His son, Narayan Sai, is dumb compared to him, but he loves his son very much and was doing everything to groom him to take over the empire. In fact, we exchanged cards to discuss soya trade issues in future.

During my travels, I always meet many interesting people and good to know how people think and operate. This was also one of the memorable journeys with a "unique businessman selling hope wrapped in spirituality but at cost". Why such players exist and why law enforcement agencies allow them to flourish? They wait for whose instruction to stop unlawful activities on such a large scale? This itself is the matter of investigation.

Why these baba's flourish?

Visit by political leaders, police officers, businessmen, and senior officers convey a bad and wrong message that these baba's are influential and powerful people. Common people start following these VIPs to these fraud babas. This must be discussed in public forums the role of influential people in promoting fraud babas. TV telecast of their programs and VIPs visit helps in promoting their reach. 

The main target for all is illiterate and poor citizens mainly ladies and poor farmers. They all flock to such people with the hope that they will address their miseries because these are influential people with contacts at right places. That is why such Baba's always want the photos with all influential people which shows even big people come to them with their heads down. This is classic advertisement approach to create the wider mass base. 
All such VIPs are used as "models" by these babas to promote their influence. The internet is full of such pictures with senior political leaders. 
You may say, these pictures were before conviction. But are you saying these political leaders were not aware how these babas were acquiring land and wealth without having any known source of income? Why no investigation was launched against such elements.

Everyone knows their land and money was acquired by force or by illegal means. All laws like land laws, food laws, consumer laws, and tax laws are openly breached, still, no one dares to take action. This is the classic case of the symbiotic relationship. Many crock politicals, officials, and baba are all joined together for their vested interests to fool people in the name of religion, ideology and for money. This pest syndrome must be addressed. Why there is no law enforcement on the control such elements. Media also keep quiet because they pay for airtime to spread their message.

This cannot happen without political patronage, because no one else is allowed by authorities to commit so many crimes and get away.

Every government must be made accountable and answerable under whose tenure such people flourish by cheating common man openly.

Still many fraudsters are always live on TV and still talking baseless and misleading things, no one is keen to stop such characters those who openly misleading people. 

What is the role of Media and Broadcasting ministries and police departments? 

Don't expect political class to take any action against them, for them they help in vote bank politics. We have seen RamRahim, Asaram, etc etc. and their closeness with the political class.

Civil society has to get-up and stops such objectionable characters using religion to serve their ulterior motives at the cost of society and a common man.

As the society, we must think and ask all VIPs those who visit such baba about their motive. I agree this can be a matter of personal choice but also try to gauge what is the hidden motive.