From Rampal to Ram Vriksh, how babas exploit followers

Myriad ways of worship in India has always resulted in powerful cults being spread all over the landscape. There are cult leaders who propagate their own versions of truth, and through their narrow prisms, call themselves god incarnate. These cult leaders are worshipped, believed fully and the surrender of their followers is absolute. But what makes them so powerful is their sway over a swathe of people and the deadly cocktail of religion and politics.

To understand what made Ram Vriksh Yadav so powerful that nobody would touch him, you have to go back in history. In late 1970s and early 1980s, we saw the rise of Jai Gurudev, whose followers belived that he was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

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This was the time when there were several conspiracy theories about how Bose was still alive and in hiding, and Jai Gurdev's followers believed he could very well be in form of the baba. It lend credence to the mystique of Jai Gurudev. His call to his followers of throwing away the Constitution and replacing it with his own bunch of “revolutionary" thoughts made him more attractive to his followers whose numbers were swelling with every passing day.

With such a dedicated fan following, he was a magnet for political parties who would love to use his bhakts for their political ends. And from here, the rise in the power of Jai Gurudev was astronomical, with virtually every political party eating out of his hand. The belief in itself became so much that he even launched a political party called Doordrishti, which however proved to be an utter failure in elections.

Leaders of these cults start with a frugal, spartan lifestyle and as the number of followers grow, so does their ostentatious lifestyle. There are hundreds of cars, which would put even a billionaire to shame, thousands of acres of big ashrams and lakhs of followers willing to live or die for them. All this makes for a very heady cocktail, and usually with a pliant government looking at the next election, they always have the administration in their pocket, till the situation explodes in their face.

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Ram Vriksh was one such disciple of Jai Gurudev, who believed firmly that very soon Netaji would come and would usher India into the next revolution. Demands like 60 litres of petrol for Re 1 may sound bizarre to us, but for his 3,000-odd followers, this was the word of the one who was blessed.

Ram Vriksh had not only imbibed his guru's radical ideas but he also grew his own cult. Though he fell out with the original ashram, his radical ideas of overthrowing the present laws attracted him to thousands of people who believed in him. And as they say in Uttar Pradesh, if there is a baba with followers, can the politicians be far behind?

And when Ram Vriksh, with his thousands of followers, started his march to Delhi, he was given the Jawaharbagh Udyan and he never left the place. He converted the 275 acres of Jawaharbagh into his fiefdom. Rest of the story on how he ran it and how he met his match has been told several times and merits no repetition.

Before Ram Vriksh, another such baba who had his own cult and surrendered after a high level drama was Sant Rampal.

Sant Rampal to his followers is the incarnation of god and even the holy trinity of Hindu gods - Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva were accused of spreading lies. For his followers, the path to real salvation only and only went through him. He had virtually thousand of families living in his ashram, who believed every word of his as gospel truth.

It was also said that his followers used to eat kheer that was prepared from milk which was used to bathe him. He is not the only one. Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim is one such cult leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda who wields enormous clout and for lakhs of his followers he is the god who was there to take them to the right path and save them from bad habits.

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Ram Raheem also courted various controversies, especially when he was dressed as Guru Govind Singh, leading the state of Punjab to near turmoil. But because of the influence he commanded, the BJP didn't think twice before seeking his support in elections in Haryana.

Not only this, the mind-boggling case of Freezer Baba alias Ashutosh Maharaj is another example of how godmen in India rule the mind of thier followers. Ashutosh Maharaj was dead for more than three years but his followers had kept his body in a freezer with the firm belief that he was not dead. You may be shocked at his but for his followers it was just a fact of life.

So what makes these cults click?

If you see closely, a majority of the followers of these cults come from a disfranchised society. People who have never been part of any growth the world is making and also feel that god has dealt them a bad pack of cards.

For these people suffering from one arm of law to another stroke of bad luck, these gurus come as knights in shining armour. Guarantee of food and a little bit of dignity are all they need to be brainwashed and to believe in the near mythical powers of their cult leaders.

When the situation improves, you start believing in magical powers and in no time the word spreads. A person who is part of one such cult says that irrespective of wealth, deep down, everybody yearns for a little magic in their life. And as soon as word spreads, rich and powerful are genuflecting before these gurus and babas.

As time passes, the wealth and clout of these cult leaders grow, and very soon they become the catalyst of the power equation in and around where they live. And till there is a marriage of mystique and power, there is no ending of the cult culture.