Religion and politics have gone hand in hand since time immemorial. Kings always had their advisers who guided them on matters spiritual and religious. Occasionally, they differed and history is replete with instances where it was the latter who came to grief. In India too, monarchs had priests by their side; our scriptures and myths too are replete with instances.
In modern, post-independence India, politicians kept good relations with sants, babas and sundry sadhus. The difference is that it was not just for spiritual comfort but also for consultation on political matters. The guruji did not just suggest the best way to achieve inner peace but also the best time to file an election nomination. Many Indians, rich and not-so-well-off, have a family baba whose word is law.
India’s founding fathers, especially the more high-profile ones, had no time for sadhus and sants. Pandit Nehru was of course an atheist and had no time for organised religion, but even Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most spiritually inclined leaders of the 20th century, never relied on them. Nor did Subhas Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Politicians of a later generation were not so high-minded. Indira Gandhi had Dhirendra Brahmachari, her yoga teacher who became very powerful and her cabinet colleagues too were close to one baba or the other. The Puttaparthi Saibaba counted some of the biggest names in the country as his followers (including industrialists, top lawyers and judges). One minister, I recall, used to go to a sadhu who only sat on a tree and kicked the visitor — that was considered to be a blessing!
The role of such gurus has only grown in recent years. Many have actually joined politics and have come to be known for their somewhat controversial interventions-Uma Bharati and Yogi Adityanath come to mind. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, though not in politics, has a political following and has of late shown a penchant for making films starring himself.
But the two most powerful religious gurus of these times are undoubtedly Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravishankar. They not only have large followings but have created large organisations; the first runs a company that is giving multinational firms a run for their money in product lines as diverse as noodles and pills that improve fertility (and, it is whispered, produce sons) while the second’s empire is into culture and conferences.
Baba Ramdev, who has millions of followers who are fans of his style of yoga, came into prominence when, in 2010, he declared he would set up a political party that would contest elections. The next year he retracted that decision only to say in 2014 that he would contest a few constituencies.
But it was his fasting for the Jan Lokpal bill and then his dramatic bid to escape wearing women’s clothes that made him a national figure and since then he hasn’t looked back. He backed Narendra Modi for the Prime Ministership and after May 2014, he appears to have prospered even more.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who boasts of several prominent names as followers too let it be known that he was supporting Narendra Modi. During the run up to the May 2014 elections, he was tweeting a lot, his most famous one being the confidence that soon after Modi became PM, the rupee would rise to 40 to the dollar; alas, that does not seem to have happened. That has not come in the way of Sri Sri from blooming either.
The Yamuna festival on the banks of the river in Delhi is proof of his clout. The ecosystem around the area is fragile and therefore needs to be protected, but the Art of Living (AOL), the organisation run by Sri Sri, went ahead and made arrangements to set up a massive stage and even get a temporary bridge made by the Army. The President and the Prime Minister were scheduled to attend it (the former has dropped out). Guests were scheduled to come in from other countries. Arvind Kejriwal too promised to come. All this can happen only if the organisers are influential.
After activists raised a hue and cry and the matter went to the National Green Tribunal, it emerged that several permissions were not taken. Different figures about the area to be taken over and the numbers expected to attend were given at different times. The court allowed the event to go ahead but imposed a temporary fine of Rs 5 crores on the Foundation; the sum is small but the implications are enormous. The NGT is clearly saying that something is seriously wrong with the decision to hold the festival on the banks of the Yamuna. Sri Sri has declared, grandly, that he would rather go to jail than pay the fine, because he does not see himself as having done any wrong.
Will this affect either of the two babas? Perhaps not. It will certainly not reduce their popularity, since time and again we have seen that all manner of allegations and scandals make not a slightest difference to their devotees. Not for nothing is it called blind faith.
In a country where the influencers – politicians, bureaucrats, judges, industrialists, actors and sportspersons – show their devotion so openly, why would ordinary people, who have so many more daily insecurities to cope with, not throng to religious figures who hold out the promise of succour? Babas and sants are here to stay, no matter what else changes in this country.
