OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Jan. 18, 2002. morning dailies carried front page reports (with pictures) of an attempt to kill the “Bhagwan” Satya Sai Baba.
This is the second attempt on his life-the first being on the night of June 6, 1993, nine years ago, when four “alleged assassins” who entered the Bhagwan’s bedroom at Puttaparti were reportedly shot dead by the police. (DV July 16, 1993 p.6; “Truth about Baba and his black sheep” and DV Jan.16, 1994 p.5: Sai Baba murder case takes new turn“).
Since thinking itself has stopped in Hindu India, it never occurred to anybody if a Bhagwan (god) could be killed. Is there any instance in history of killing a god?
To put it in other words, can god be killed? It is believed that the god creates everything including the human beings. If so how can a mortal human being kill the immortal god? If Sai Baba is immortal, (he calls himself god) how can he be killed?
Death of rationalism: Ten days have passed since the front- page story broke out in the “national” toilet papers but not one single individual raised the above questions. Rationalism is dead. Anybody calling himself a rationalist is laughed at, ridiculed. This is the position of India today.
A society can progress only when scientific temper flourishes. Everything has to be questioned. Rational thinking, constant questioning helped the Christian Europe and America to flourish and gallop into world powers. Not to speak of superstitions, even religion is banished from official and even in private life.
But in India, blind superstition and godmen who promote superstition get official encouragement and “national” toilet papers are the publicity agents for such fakes and frauds.
Bedroom murders: What is intriguing is every effort is being made to suppress the latest attempt to kill the Bhagwan who himself bitterly criticised the media for giving publicity to the Jan.17 incident. “The newspapers were spreading falsehood. Why should the media spread lies”, he said. (Deccan Herald Jan.20, 2002).
Who is bluffing: Sai Baba while spitting fire at the media for publishing “false reports” said how could such reports come when no media persons were present when the incident occurred. But the Baba should know that the reports carried by the media were all based on the version given by the top police officers. That means it was a govt. version. It was not a concocted story because every media carried the same version. Who is bluffing -the Sai Baba or the police? Fishy?
Most of the media persons were themselves Baba bhaktas. How could they put out false reports?
In other words, either the govt. is lying or the Baba is bluffing. Who will investigate this complaint?
Going by the 1993 much bigger case in which four close associates of the Bhagwan were murdered in his own bedroom, which was also suppressed, the latest one was a much smaller one. What happened to the 1993 case in which as per the BBC report the “assassins” were killed not by the police but by the Bhagwari’s own people? Why Sub-inspector K.Ν. Gangadhar Reddy, who allegedly shot down the assassins on the request of the Bhagwan, was absconding? What happened to this case of ghastly murder in Bhagwan’s bedroom in the Anantapur court? Who murdered whom? Why the Bhagwan gets so irritated when the dirty linen is washed in the public?
Why truth suffers: All these questions need answer but how can the answer come when the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and Home Minister, top police officers (except President Narayanan) fall on the feet of the Bhagwan?
At the Jan. 19, 2002 function held at the Whitefield hospital complex the Bhagwan was flanked by two chief ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Which police officer will have the courage to file a case under such circumstances?
Only flourishing business: The truth is suppressed because these godmen help promote superstitions, blind belief and thereby kill scientific temper, free thinking, rational and logical arguments, revolutionary zeal which alone can produce a forward-looking society bristling with health and happiness. India’s goes backward year after year because when every other business and industry is collapsing if not dying, god- business is galloping.
(Jan.26, 2002)
