It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what one finds most galling about Sant Rampal of the Satlok Ashram of Barwala, Hisar, Haryana.
That, by professing to be an incarnation of Kabir, he has profaned the 15th century weaver of Varanasi, who urged humanity to find god as the ultimate truth not through rituals or superstition, but inside oneself?
That he evades arrest, thumbs his nose at the courts, and his ashram is defended from police action with acid bulbs and hurled rocks?
That he seems to be able to conjure up huge crowds, and these crowds seem willing to risk life and limb for him?
Engage with faith
For a society constantly in ferment over the “hurt sentiments” of some group or the other, the situation in Hisar is a case fit for declaring that our sentiments are hurt. How did the administration allow such a situation to build up? Why are godmen among the most protected category in our society, either by Z-plus arrangements or by avid devotees?
Such questions seethe inside the people accustomed to wearing their faith lightly or not at all. They strike deep at our belief in our democracy. While some of these feelings may find expression for a few days on social media and in print, we will get back to business as usual in another few weeks. We will take the Hisar histrionics in our stride as one more example of the demented democracy that is India.
That will be a huge pity, because one of the many reasons why Sant Rampal and his Satlok Ashram saga unfolded is our refusal to engage with issues of faith.
Diverse pilgrims
When I set out to write Bol Bam: Approaches to Shiva, it was driven by my intense curiosity about the lakhs of people who crisscross the country on arduous pilgrimages every year. I had already been among the pilgrims on many journeys before I began travelling for the book in 2010. I had been at the Mahakumbh, to Tirupati and Pandharpur, at Mathura on Janmashtami, to Puri, Kedarnath and Rameshwaram.
Such journeys had shown me that the numbers setting out to meet god each year were only increasing. From the poorest and most disadvantaged to the well-heeled and well-connected, people were finding a way to trek out of their comfort zones and undertake all kinds of hardships in order to connect with a Higher Power.
I saw that this vast catchment of believers represented immense power in the hands of those who could carve them into big chunks of followers, to be offered as vote banks at the time of elections. When Baba Ramdev first began to talk of corruption at his yoga camps in 2010, as I saw him do at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, he was preparing for the 2014 election. When Narendra Modi approached Baba Ram Rahim of the Dera Sacha Sauda for support in 2014, he was hoping to win over at least a couple of crore votes.
Be counted
What makes a man like Rampal begin to be regarded as a “Sant”? By many accounts in the public domain, he is actually unable to read or speak Hindi or English properly, even the scriptures he is supposed to be quoting. The cases against him relate to July 2006, when his followers were engaged in bloody battles with the neighbouring villagers who have traditionally been Arya Samaj followers. In those skirmishes too, firing from inside the ashram was reported, which resulted in a death. Since the case went to court, Baba Rampal has failed to turn up on 43 occasions in four years. Yet, with all these charming qualities, he is able to be called a "Sant" on TV channel debates.
How did we let things get this skewed? In the late '70s, a film by Swiss film director Cristina Perincioli was revealingly titled The Power of Men is the Patience of Women. If Sant Rampal and others like him are stronger around us, it is at least partly our fault. Being neutral, secular and silent, banding only with those who share our opinions, secretly considering the multitudes thronging ashrams to be “brainwashed”, we are allowing such men and their political collaborators to get away.
It is time to sit up and say, in a clear, carrying voice, “Actually, I believe in Krishna/Kabir/Christ/Nanak/Ambedkar/this democracy/our Constitution (appropriate to the occasion). That’s how I know you are a liar and a cheat.”
