More Ram Rahims bloom because of demand and supply

parts of the country under the radar. Their ranks will undoubtedly swell as more join in.

It is easy to take the high moral ground and argue that Indians should stop investing in such fake holy men and women marketing synthetic spirituality. But such platitudes have little meaning where back-breaking poverty, discrimination, inequalities and resultant frustration force millions of people to flock to such holy men and women for succor.

The ‘godmen’ and ‘godwomen’ give people a false sense of identity and bonding, burnished by the charities such as free medicare and education that they run with their ill-gotten wealth. Coming under their spell gives the vulnerable masses a false sense of security and an illusion of dignity. Since ground realities are unlikely to change, it is prudent to brace ourselves for more ‘unholy’ scandals in the future as in the past. There can be no law to ban people from reposing their blind faith in someone and there will neither be a dearth of gullible people or those ready to exploit them in this country of billionplus people.

If the 1970s was dominated by Dhirendra Brahmachari, the following decades threw up equally disputable characters such as Chandraswami, Balak Brahmachari, Asaram Bapu and others. It finally boils down to a business of demand and supply and as long as demand exists, fed by inequalities and ignorance, we will never run out of supply. We may therefore cry hoarse as much as we may like over the unscrupulousness of someone like Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, but there actually is no respite from them. The Dera Sacha Sauda head was only the latest to shame us, but certainly not the last.