Saturday, April 30, 2011

Editorial, 'MASTER OF MAMMON' in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 April 2011 issue

MASTER OF MAMMON


he certainly proved to be though all the tall claims that he was but an incarnation or messenger of God were definitely not. It seems we Indians have a peculiar addiction to such ingenious perverts once they don saffron robes, perform some cheap magic tricks and utter carefully rehearsed sermons on spiritual matters. Otherwise it is hard to explain the charisma this ‘avatar’ has wielded over millions of people including the VVIPs of the country and all this despite the well-documented exposes by rationalists like late Premananda, et al. At least after the gory murders in his bedroom in 1993, about which two analytical pieces were published in Nov-Dec 2005 issues of this journal also, some good sense must have prevailed over the minds of people and especially the governments and the police ought to have sprung into action and rigorously investigated and taken to task the fake Baba and his cohorts but alas that was not to be. Even though the Baba himself was, admittedly, an eye-witness to the murders he was not questioned and made a witness even, let alone being accused of the crime, and the whole matters hushed up according to the later scathing criticism of experienced police officers like V.J. Ram. Now, after the demise of the ‘god-man’, the legacy of his multi-thousand crore empire is at stake and people are really worried that the enormous wealth he amassed, in various questionable ways to say the least, may be pilfered and misused by a hypocritical coterie to the detriment of society. As such we feel and appeal that the Government should step in and take over the trust to run the affairs smoothly and invest its enormous moneys for good ends. There is a criticism, somewhat justified, that Hindu religious/spiritual endowments are alone interfered with and usurped for various extraneous purposes by the governments, which dare not touch like institutions of any other religions. Hence, it may be appropriate for the government to create a strictly impartial, statutory Board of Endowments and deal with all deviant and suspicious endowments of any religion through its channels for the general welfare and progress of the people at large §§§