Editorial: Godmen with feet of clay

So much so that many of them have gone on to garner cult followings of lakhs, and several have become the founders of multi-million dollar empires. Just last week, absconding godman Nityananda announced on Facebook, the launch of what he calls the Reserve Bank of Kailaasa, a financial regulator that controls the economy of MahaKailaasa, the nation founded by him. Replete with its own currency, exchange rates and monetary system, it was modelled after the Vatican Bank, which is formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion and is located inside the Vatican City. The Vatican Bank’s aim is to ‘provide specialised financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide’.

Nityananda, who has been on the run from the law in India for more than a year now, has been derided on social media forums as the butt of jokes. But he seems to be having the last laugh as he has not just found a means to legitimise the donations that are channelled into his organisation, but also garnered the gumption to go public with the details concerning his enterprise. More recently, he has come up with a plan to set up a Hindu parliament as well.

India has a colourful history when it comes to ‘spiritual gurus’ with more skeletons in their closets than we can count. The original trailblazer was controversial guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho, who way back in the 70s, set up a self-contained community in Pune. The township which was initially built on the principle of conscious living had attracted tens of thousands of followers, many of whom were drawn to Osho’s dictum of free love. But having been driven out of India, following serious taxation defaults, his one-time personal assistant Ma Sheela Anand turned to Wasco County, Oregon in the US where they set up a commune called Rajneeshpuram. However, it was not long before they were accused of orchestrating a large-scale food poisoning attack on the townspeople and 

a failed assassination attempt on a US attorney, and eventually shut down.

India is far more tolerant of such godmen, as was seen in the case of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The head of a religious cult Dera Sacha Sauda, he was booked for rape in 2017 which led to violent clashes in which over 40 people lost their lives. Despite over 170 cases being registered for violence, not a single conviction was made. Like Nityananda, Singh was also a media virtuoso and had harnessed the power of the Internet and TV to release a series of feature-length films that doubled up as propaganda pieces. Another infamous godman was Asaram, a spiritual leader, whose net assets were estimated to be worth Rs 5,000 crore, with a following of millions including political bigwigs, and 400 ashrams across 18 countries. He is now serving life imprisonment on charges of rape and murder.

Such instances of cult leaders who rode a wave of popularity before being brought to justice, point to gaps in how they have been allowed to operate. While a democracy grants freedom of worship, there have been too many instances of so-called spiritualists who operate below the radar, seemingly impervious to the laws of the land. They key difference between religion and religious cults is that the former is a part of mainstream culture, while the latter typically operates outside mainstream society, has a single leader and expects followers to make an absolute commitment to the group. During times of turmoil and heightened stress, people often turn to spirituality for succour, but it’s important for lawmakers not to lose sight of such opportunists as, in the long run, they could be the most dangerous virus of all.