HE MAY BE EXPELLED FROM SAINT COMMUNITY
PRAYAGRAJ: Former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand, accused of rape by a law student and now in judicial custody, may soon expelled from the saint community.
Chinmayanand is the ‘Mahamandaleshwar’ (high priest) of Mahanirvani Akhara.
“The decision to this effect will be taken by the Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad (ABAP)—apex decisionmaking body of the 13 recognized Hindu monastic orders of the country at its meeting scheduled in Haridwar on October 10,” said Swami Narendra Giri, head, ABAP.
He said the meeting had been convened to discuss the preparations for the Kumbh2021 set to take place in Haridwar but in the light of serious charges leveled against Swami Chinmayanand it has been decided to hold a discussion on possible action against Chinmayanand.
Giri, who is also the secretary of Panchayati Akhara Niranjani, said the conduct of Swami Chinmayanand was in violation of the set norms for seers and had shamed the seers’ community.
“If the representatives of 13 akhadas present at the October 10 meet agree on it he could be expelled from the community,” said Giri.
ACTION AGAINST SEERS IN PAST ALSO
In the past also, the ABAP has acted against many seers by expelling them as well as declaring many of them as fake saints.
In September 2017, the ABAP has realised a list of 14 saints that it had dubbed as ‘fake saints’ bringing the community of seers into disrepute through their actions.
The list included names of Gurmeet Ram Rahim of Dera Saccha Sauda (convicted in August 2017 by special CBI court for 20 years prison sentence for rape of two female disciples), Ashumal Shirmalani alias Asharam Bapu (undergoing trial in rapes and murders), Narain Sai (son of Asharam Bapu), Ram Pal (serving a Jail sentence after being arrested in November 2014), Sukhvinder Kaur alias Radhe Maa, Sachin Dutt alias Sacchinand Giri, Vivekanand Jha alias Om Baba, Nirmalpreet Singh alias Nirmal Baba, Shivmurti Dwivedi alias Icchadhar, Bhimanand, Swami Aseemanand, Om Namo Shivaya, Bhrispati Giri, Kushmuni and Malkhan Giri.
More self-styled godmen, including absconding ‘spiritual guru’ Virendra Dev Dixit, found mention in the second list of ‘’fake’’ babas released by the Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad in December 2017.
The list had three names— Virendra Dixit Kalnemi (Delhi), Sachidanand Saraswati (Basti, Uttar Pradesh) and Trikal Bhawant (Allahabad).
Namdas Tyagi, popular as ‘Computer Baba’, was expelled from Sri Panch Ani Digambar Akhara in November 2018.