Editorial: Snake Oil & Co

If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward… then brother, that person is a piece of s***. And I’d like to get as many of them out in the open as possible. You gotta get together and tell yourself stories that violate every law of the universe just to get through the goddamn day? What’s that say about your reality?” Rust Cohle, the nihilistic half of the investigative duo that headlined True Detective Season 1 (2014), has unappetising perspectives on religious congregations and the unwitting masses that turn up at such gatherings.

Considering the impunity with which some nefarious gurus operate, how can one even blame Cohle? This week, in his first appearance before the media since July 2, when 121 people were crushed to death following a sermon he delivered in Hathras, the self-styled godman Bhole Baba said he was disturbed by the stampede, but digressed into cookie cutter existential philosophy by adding, “Nobody can avoid what is destined and everyone has to die one day.”

Pinning the blame on ‘anti-social elements in the crowd’ might be second nature to operators like Bhole Baba, whose meet was attended by 250,000 devotees, thrice the permissible number. The audacity of denying accountability for the casualties is amplified by reports which suggest the stampede occurred as people jostled for a handful of sand, from the dais where the godman stood, supposedly for its healing properties.

The UP administration constituted an SIT and a judicial commission to probe the incident, and an FIR was registered by the UP police against the organisers. Ironically, the godman was not mentioned as accused in the FIR lodged at the Sikandra Rao police station. It’s a recurring malady, the long arm of the law taking way too long to deal with miscreants of an otherworldly kind. A case in point: Asaram, a convicted rapist, who had been operating ashrams since the 1970s. Notorious for insensitive remarks about sexual assault survivors, he was accused of rape by a teenager in 2013. Back then, prominent leaders from right wing Hindu outfits like the VHP, and BJP functionaries came out in support of Asaram. It took nearly a decade to convict and imprison him. But Asaram’s isn’t an isolated case. The now-imprisoned Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who went by the moniker MSG (or Messenger of God) had reprised the role of a deviant successor, engaging in a series of crimes and misdemeanours reminiscent of Asaram’s exploits.

Down south, Nithyananda, a rape-accused fugitive pontiff on the run, had managed to not only evade arrest, but build a nation of his own called Kailasa, presumably located on a purchased island, off Ecuador. His representatives duped as many as 30 American cities into signing Sister City agreements with Kailasa, and even found front-row delegate seats to a UN conference. Such deviants criss-cross religious lines as well.

Tamil Nadu has witnessed numerous episodes of pastors from various ministries being arrested on account of sexually assaulting minors and adults. Many have even made the promise of miracle healing a stock in trade, something that gets unfiltered coverage on evangelical TV channels where hapless devouts get dispossessed of the devil with one tight slap from the healer.

Unfortunately, our collective spiritual bankruptcy has emerged as rich cannon fodder for charlatans waiting to cash in on our gullibility. And knowing how touchy a subject religion is, it might be only wishful thinking to hope that the voice of reason and rationality prevails in India.