We regularly read about Asaram Bapu, a rape convict, and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan, a convicted murderer and rapist, being granted parole. These two babas represent a leading brand of godmen, commanding vast properties, networks of ashrams, and legions of devotees willing to do anything for them. They are the most infamous members of a cohort of frauds who cloak themselves in holiness while engaging in depraved acts.
The proliferation of such babas appears to have accelerated over the last few decades. There have, of course, always been others of their ilk who have risen through various mechanisms to build empires of wealth and devotion.
What we see today is merely the tip of the iceberg—an empire of faith and blind faith flourishing on the bedrock of rising societal insecurity. While figures like Jeffrey Epstein exploited their networks through different means, the godmen we see in India have deep roots in blind faith, which they cleverly exploit to accumulate wealth and prey on women.
A recent case in Nashik, Maharashtra, exemplifies this pattern. Ashok Kumar Kharat was sent to police custody for fraudulently exploiting faith. He was visited by the state’s elite, and among his devotees was Rupali Chakankar, the chairperson of the Maharashtra Women’s Commission. A video shows her washing his feet and holding an umbrella to shield him from the sun.
Kharat, who claimed to be a former Merchant Navy captain endowed with divine powers, styled himself as an astrologer and numerologist. He attracted ministers and other powerful figures, and his money-making schemes included selling polished tamarind seeds as precious gems. Many women who initially suffered his assaults remained silent, fearing his connections to the powerful.
Kharat is yet another addition to a long and disturbing list of godmen who have been granted positions of respect. Earlier figures like Chandra Swami, Dhirendra Brahmchari, Acharya Rajneesh, and Mahesh Yogi commanded significant influence in the political and religious spheres.
In between, Sathya Sai Baba dominated the scene with his sleight-of-hand tricks, producing ash from thin air. His purported divine powers were limited to ash and small rings—he famously refused to produce melons. Allegations of sexual abuse also emerged in his case. Ma Amritanandamayi, often called the “hugging Amma,” is another such figure. Nirmal Baba, Benny Hinn, and numerous Bengali babas also roam the landscape, claiming to solve the problems of all who seek them out.
At the top of the current hierarchy are figures like Jaggi Vasudev and Baba Ramdev. Vasudev has popularized the term “inner engineering” and counts members of the IT generation among his followers. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar wields unique political influence, having backed the Anna movement and organized festivals that have caused significant ecological damage, particularly along the Yamuna River.
The list is long and seemingly inexhaustible. But we cannot overlook Baba Ramdev, who began as a yoga preacher and became a highly successful businessman. He once promised that if Narendra Modi became prime minister, petrol would cost ₹35 a liter and the rupee would strengthen against the dollar.
As economic insecurity and inequality have risen, so too has the hold of faith-based gurus. This trend has been accompanied by a parallel rise in faith-based knowledge. Using mythology to undermine rational thought is not unique to India. I recall a meeting in Pakistan where research on mythological djinns was presented as a solution to the country’s energy shortage. While India has a strong foundation in science and rational thought—evidenced by its excellent chain of research institutes—the trends of the last few decades are deeply disheartening.
The Prime Minister himself set a troubling precedent by framing mythology as science. While inaugurating a modern hospital, he suggested that ancient India must have had a plastic surgeon capable of transplanting an elephant’s head onto a human torso. This was on top of the many mythological tales of pushpak vimanas capable of interplanetary travel. Subsequently, a series of leaders from the Prime Minister’s political stable began claiming that genetic science, spacecraft, and even the internet all existed in ancient Indian traditions.
To cap it all, mythological narratives are now being treated as historical fact, with significant funds allocated for research on the Ramayana and Mahabharata. A country grappling with malnutrition and infectious diseases is instead investing in panchagavya—a mixture of cow urine, dung, milk, ghee, and curd. Faith-based understanding is being actively promoted.
The Prime Minister has referred to the Bageshwar Dham baba, who claims to have mystical powers to divine a person’s past, as his younger brother. Meanwhile, the next generation is being drilled in Indian Knowledge Systems. India has undoubtedly made significant contributions to rational thought, but we must separate the grain from the chaff.
History shows that faith-based knowledge often serves political systems that seek to preserve the status quo or regress society to a time before rational thought was ascendant. In keeping with this, Darwin’s theory of evolution has been sidelined, and the periodic table—the very foundation of chemistry—has been removed from the curriculum under the New Education Policy.
Article 51A(h) of the Indian Constitution, added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, mandates as a fundamental duty that every citizen shall develop scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. It calls for a rational, evidence-based approach to life in order to overcome superstition and promote social progress. Our current direction is a stark departure from this constitutional ideal.
The ruling party’s embrace of blind faith, reflected in changes to the New Education Policy, will have profoundly harmful consequences for future generations. It will allow the likes of Kharat and the Bageshwar Dham baba to flourish, while making it ever more dangerous for rationalists like Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh—who gave their lives for the cause of enlightenment—to carry out their essential work.
*The author is a former IIT Bombay faculty member and chairperson of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
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