Lawless godmen
NEW
DELHI, Nov 12. — Godmen and controversies have always gone hand in
hand. Rajnish, Sai Baba, Dhiren Brahmachari and Chandraswami. And now
the Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati, who was projected by the erstwhile
NDA regime as the honest broker in the Ayodhya tangle.
The most controversial of the lot were of course Rajnish and Satya Sai
Baba. Rajnish of the “free- sex” Osho Commune had the distinction of
being either denied entry or was deported from at least 21 countries.
His 64,000 acre Oregon ashram, which had the largest fleet of Rolls
Royce in the world was the envy of one and all, but everything
unravelled when his private secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, fled from the
ashram and was later arrested for charges of arson, wire-tapping and
attempted murder.
He subsequently pleaded guilty on two of the 35 charges brought against
him by the FBI and the US Immigration Service and was fined $ 400,000
and deported to India where he set up the Osho Commune.
Equally controversial has been the wiry-haired Sai Baba who has the
country’s who’s who lining up for his darshan at Prashanti Nilayam at
Andhra. A 1993 incident in which police shot dead four of his followers
and his attendants murdered two was hushed up with intervention from
the top the then home minister, SB Chavan. The Baba, who was
present when the four were shot dead, was never questioned.
Chandraswami was quizzed in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case. But investigating agencies couldn’t simply put
their fingers on his links with international arms dealers such as
Adnan Khasoggi. The case of the gangster and the godmen is a continuing
one. — SNS
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