Fall of self-styled spiritual guru

Jaipur: Asumal Thaumal Harpalani better known as Asaram Bapu was once a tongawallah in Rajasthan’s Ajmer city. Asumal Sindhi Tangewallah, that’s how people knew him before his transformation into a spiritual guru who boasted five crore followers and amassed wealth more than Rs 5,000 crore.

Locals say that he used to live in a rented room with his uncle and ran tonga at the Diggi Chowk before he came into contact of Lilashah, a spiritual guru, who according to Sant Asaram Bapuji ki Jeevan Jhanki, accepted him as disciple and named him Asaram ji Maharaj on October 7, 1964.

Almost a decade later, he set up his first ashram “Moksha Kutir” in Motera on the banks of the Sabarmati in 1973 and never looked back since then. He went on to establish over 400 ashrams in India, the US, Hong Kong, Canada and South Africa. In Rajasthan, he has 23 ashrams across the state.  

With the number of followers his clout and wealth also grew sharply. Politicians cutting across party lines, bureaucrats and businessmen frequented his place. Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he became chief minister for the first time started his poll campaign by sharing the stage with Asaram. When Madan Lal Khurana was governor of Rajasthan, Asaram stayed as his guest in Raj Bhavan in 2004.

Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Uma Bharti, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, former President K.R. Narayanan and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former Union ministers Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal, Prakash Singh Badal and Farooq Abdullah took turns to pay obeisance to him. His website has a separate section of pictures and messages from the politicians.

He was also darling of sangh parivar, especially Vishwa Hindu Parishad, for his ‘ghar wapasi’ campaign (reconverting tribal from Christianity to Hinduism) in tribal areas in various states. Not surprisingly, VHP criticised his arrest and late Ashok Singhal also visited him in jail in 2015.

The wealth followed his clout. Successive governments whether Congress or BJP gave him land on concessional rates.  

It was in 1997, a 20-year-old sadhika accused him of sexual assault in 1997. The allegation, carried by a local Gujarati daily, created a storm but was soon forgotten. A decade later, Asaram faced major trouble for the first time in July 2008. Two cousins — Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela — who used to stay at the Gurukul of Asaram’s Ashram in Motera, were found dead under mysterious circumstances on the riverbed near the ashram. Parents of two cousins had alleged that they were killed in the Asarma’s ashram as they practice black magic. Following public anger, a month later then Modi government notifies Justice D.K. Trivedi Commission to probe allegations of tantric practices. The Trivedi Commission submitted its report on August 1, 2013 but the report not tabled in state Assembly. The state CID had in 2009 booked seven followers of Asaram in the case.

There were also cases of land grabbing against Asaram in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Eight months before he was arrested in the rape case, serious fraud investigation office sought permission to file case against him and his son Narayan Sai for illegally grabbing 200 acre land worth Rs 700 crore that belonged to a Ratlam based company.

On June 19, 2013 a case was registered against him under Section 323, 294 for kicking and hurling abuses on one of his devotees — Aman Singh Dangi on February 4, 2013 in Vidisha district.

But, the self-styled godman’s empire really crumbled after he was accused of rape by a minor girl.