The king is "dead"! long live the king. Declared clinically dead by a team of doctors about 11 months back, Ashutosh Maharaj is still alive for his followers who believe that he will come back one day.
Amidst chants of "Ashu baba aayega", his tens of thousands followers - including BJP leader and Union Minister Vijay Sampla - on Sunday congregated at Divya Jyoti Jagroti Sansthan's Nurmahal Ashram, which passed off peacefully amidst high security cover.A rough estimate suggests that no less than 25,000 worshippers reached the ashram for the "regular event" in an apparent attempt to show their strength. The DJJS authorities, however, came out with an "inflated" figure of 85,000 followers attending the bhandaara.
Though in samadhi (deep meditation), the DJJS head Ashutosh Maharaj was virtually all over the ashram - in framed photographs, portraits, and posters. His voice too could be heard loud and clear in CDs, MP3s - that were put on sale at various counters around the venue for Sunday's mega bhandaara. This was not all! The way to the venue was all dotted with flex boards, banners calling the followers to support their 'Save Samadhi' campaign by giving a missed call at a toll free helpline number, started by a Delhi-based social organisation. DJJS spokesperson Swami Vivekananda had claimed that the helpline, on its first day, received more than five lakh responses by the evening, and in three days, it crossed 20-lakh mark. In fact, the helpline number was also being popularised during the congregation, by displaying the number at screens installed inside the