The All India Akhara Parishad, the highest religious body of sadhus, in its special meeting released names of 14 saints who have been declared as “fake” including the two incarcerated Sadhus Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Asaram Bapu.
Surprisingly, the Parishad has also declared the controversial Sukhvinder Kaur alias Radha Maa and Swami Aseemanand, who was jailed in a terror case but now is on bail, as fake. The Parishad has also announced Nirmal Baba as fake.
The special meeting of the Akhara Parishad which was held on Sunday was attended by 26 saints and sadhus representing 13 Akharas. The meeting was held at Baghbabari Math in Allahabad.
The Parishad also announced that it will boycott these 14 “so called fake sadhus” and has appealed to the people not to get attached to these fake babas.
Talking to media, Parishad’s president Mahant Narendra Giri said that these fake saints have hurt the Sanatan dharma and they should be punished. “The names of the 14 fake saints would be sent to all the centre and state government besides to all the four Sankaracharyas and chief of the 13 Akharas so that these people are boycotted,” Mahant said.
He further said that these fake saints would not be allowed to get government facilities in Kumbh and Ardh Kumbh mela and other religious fairs and functions.
The development comes close on the heels of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Haryana sentencing Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim to 20 years in prison for the rape of two of his former disciples. The verdict sparked violence across Haryana and Punjab in which scores were injured.
Following this development Akhara Parishad went vocal against this and had called the emergency meeting to identify the fake saints.
The list of the fake baba’s are Ashumal Shirmalani alias Asharam Bapu, Sukhvinder Kaur alias Radhe Maa, Sachin Dutt alias Sacchinand Giri, Gurmeet Ram Rahim of Dera Saccha Sauda, Vivekanand Jha alias Om Baba, Nirmalpreet Singh alias Nirmal Baba, Shivmurti Dwivedi alias Icchadhar Bhimanand, Swami Aseemanand, Om Namo Shivaya, Narain Sai( son of Asharam Bapu), Ram Pal, Bhrispati Giri ,Kushmuni and Malkhan Giri.
The parishad is a council of akharas, which are monastic orders drawing their spiritual lineage from 8th-century seer Adi Shankara, who is said to have established orders of martial monks with the aim of defending the Hindu Dharma.
“We are going to send copies of this list to the Centre, the state governments as well as all the opposition parties with the demand that a strong legislation be brought to check the activities of these self-styled cult leaders,” Giri said.
He also claimed that he had yesterday received a phone call from a person claiming to be a devotee of Asaram, who “threatened to kill me if a mention was made of his guru in the list of fake babas we planned to bring out today”.
“An FIR has been lodged at the Daraganj police station in the city, based on a complaint of Giri. The matter is being investigated,” Senior Superintendent of Police of Allahabad Anand Kulkarni said.
