Unholy alliance between politicians and ‘godmen’ like Sai Baba

Excerpt from ndtv article on Sai Baba

On andrhaheadlines.com the other day we could read: “Srikakulam, June 3: Union Minister Killi Kruprani has stated that a commemorative postage stamp will be released in honour of Puttaparthi Sri Satya Sai Baba on his birth anniversary this year.”

This is yet another example of the ‘unholy alliance’ between politicians and gurus.. the more absurd because Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be God the Creator of the Entire Universe, and the more reprehensible because he stood very credibly accused of serial sexual abuses against young male followers and of deep involvement in the murder by police of four of his followers in his bedroom in 1993. This collusion between politicians and the former mega-rich power broker, Sathya Sai Baba, will eventually go down in history as a massive indictment of the Indian elite who worshipped him uncritically and tried to draw benefits from his popularity, which depended largely on bogus manifestations of purported holy objects such as ‘diamonds’ (which were all synthetic gems provided by local jewelers) for devotees, who thankfully donated vast sums to him in return for these trinkets.

The ‘Unholy’ nexus between bogus ‘godmen’ and politicians was aptly described by a writer for ndtv some years ago, as seen in the scanned excerpt from his article on the right.