A look at the future of Godmen empires after they are put behind bars

Ram Rahim Singh Insan, 50
In: Sunaria Jail, Rohtak
Since: August 28, 2017

Around 72 km from the city, in Kalote - a village in Raigad district -is the Shah Satnam Ji Param Sukh Ashram of Dera Sacha Sauda, a sect headquartered in Haryana with 60 million followers across India.

It's leader, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, 50, was convicted of rape on August 28 and sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment by a CBI court. Thousands of miles away from the violence following the verdict that killed 35 people, this 23-acre gated campus is an island of peace, almost idyllic, with sprawling farms, rice fields and grazing cattle.

Other cases against the spiritual leader, which are still pending trial, include conspiring the murder of two devotees and mass castration of 400 followers. There have also been reports of his involvement in illegal arms trading. According to a report in The Financial Express, Dera, which enjoys tax exemption under Section 10(23) of the Income Tax Act (1961), generated a daily income of R16,44,833 until three years ago. Ram Rahim was ranked 96th in The Indian Express' list of 100 most powerful Indians in 2015.

Ansumal Sirumalani Aja Asaram Bapu, 76
In: Jodhpur Central Jail
Since: 2013

Closer home, right beside Goregaon East railway station, is the leafy Peru Bagh, home to the ashram of Asaram Bapu who was born Ansumal Sirumalani. This one, too, is sprawling. His followers continue to stream in for "mann ki shanti" despite the 76-year-old being lodged in Jodhpur Central jail for the alleged rape of a 16-year-old Shahjahanpur girl at his Jodhpur ashram.

After last week's Dera verdict, all eyes are on the cases piled up against Asaram, which include sexual assault, conspiring murder and illegal confinement. His assets, according to some estimates, amount to over R10,000 crore, excluding properties in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Family Affair: Honeypreet (third from left), adopted daughter of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, is currently wanted by the Haryana police for plotting to help him escape from court. Her husband, Vishwas Gupta, had said that the father-daughter duo shared an illicit relationship. A Delhi-based tabloid report also spoke of the guru pining for his confidant and "masseuse". Meanwhile, in the godman's absence, his 33-year-old son, Jasmeet Singh Insan (extreme right), is likely to be propped up to manage the affairs of the sect. Pic/Getty Images

But his volunteers remain unfazed. Suresh Dwivedi and Om Vishnoi are busy at work in the administrative building on campus that also houses a child welfare centre and a Ganesh tample. Our impromptu visit is not welcomed. Reluctantly they share that a team of 11 trustees manage the ashram, connected to the nucleus of all operation, the head office in Ahmedabad. Neither Dwivedi nor Vishnoi will share any names. Dwivedi, who lived in the neighbourhood, left his family to serve Bapu. Vishnoi was chosen as his assistant.

When the conversation moves to the charitable activities, they are keen to share more. Food, clothing and necessities are distributed in tribal areas of Maharashtra, and volunteers help others in time of need, including flood victims at Andheri station during the August 29 deluge. Today, they are busy prepping for a grand function scheduled on purnima, September 5, when they expect 13,000 followers to drop in.

Ramnath Insan is one of the 60 million Ram Rahim followers, who has been given a locket with a registration number. This helps the Dera sect maintain a record of its followers. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

It's business as usual at the Dera centre in Kalote, too. Built in February 2008, the ashram - one of 43 in India - boasts of a three-storey building, open sheds, a langar khana and a large reservoir that takes care of the campus' water supply. Banta Singh, who manages the ashram, is away in Hissar.

Sunil More, 53, who we meet, says another ashram in Satara, was built in 66 hours flat. "Representatives of Singh arrived from Punjab and bought the land on which the ashram stands. Residents from nearby participated in building the place from scratch. It's still a mystery how it was accomplished in that short a time. It was built without a foundation, and to this date, there isn't a single crack," More, a resident of Satara, tells us.

The sprawling Dera Sacha Sauda campus in Kalote, Raigad. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

Blind faith or fear?
The steadfast faith that More harbours is mirrored in Mohan Sarvaiya. The 58-year-old visits Asaram's Goregaon ashram three times a week. Sarvaiya got his diksha (induction into the faith) in 1995, when Asaram held a session at Andheri Sports Complex. That same year, he managed to catch 10 minutes of the leader's satsang at Cross Maidan in South Mumbai.

"That was enough for me to be cast under his spell. I used to get fits, and medication wasn't helping. Since I took diksha, I haven't experienced the problem again," says Sarvaiya, who once ran an export business. That his saviour is in jail, facing a rape charge, Sarvaiya justifies as the suffering a spiritual leader must endure for the benefit of mankind. "We believe in him and his teachings. He will emerge out of this."

Asaram Bapu's ashram in Peru Bagh, Goregaon

Not everyone is forthcoming like him. Most of Asaram's followers we contacted refused to speak. "We will be questioned by the ashram, if we do," said one, requesting anonymity. The fear isn't unfounded, with allegations against their guru conspiring murders of his disciples and members of his close coterie, when they turned against him. This list includes his personal physician Amrut Prajapati, who died of bullet injuries in July 2014 after he was shot at in his Rajkot clinic. He turned against Asaram after the death of two boys at the Ahmedabad gurukul, which Prajapati had put down to black magic by Asaram's men.

His secretary, Raju Chandhok, who conducted a sting operation on him, and later, handed the evidence to the police and media, has also been repeatedly attacked. A paranoid Chandok, we are told, changes his mobile number every few months to avoid being traced. When we manage to reach him, he says, "I don't want to say what I went through. As far as people's faith goes, each to his own. I am not well at the moment, and cannot talk."

Posters of Ram Rahim's movie, Messenger of God, adorn the ashram campus in Kalote, Raigad. Pic/Datta Kumbhar, Sameer Abedi

But the likes of Prajapati are in the minority. More tells us he became a follower of Ram Rahim after he was miraculously cured of paralysis. Now, his family and most members of his village are followers of 'Pitaji' after his guru mantra rid them of alcohol addiction. More says they have stopped watching news and reading the papers. "Our guru has been framed."

Volunteer Guru Dayal Saini makes us listen to an audio clip that is supposedly Ram Rahim talking to a co-inmate in jail, giving him "guru vaani", like he has to 1,200 jail inmates. He shows us WhatsApp messages being shared by devotees discussing the spread of the faith beyond the confines of ashrams. Saini, who is based out of Pune, owns three factories, he tells us. "I was a hardcore drinker and meat-eater. In 1999, my wife took the guru mantra. Eventually, I followed suit, and since then, I have given up all vices. My heart ailment has disappeared, and I haven't faced an obstacle since."

A file pic of supporters of Asaram, accused of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl, celebrating his birthday outside Central Jail in Jodhpur. Pic/Getty Images

Ajay Sharma, 48, went from being a hawker to a crorepati, he claims, after he met Ram Rahim. He, too, was rid of alcohol addiction. "Everyone who walks into this ashram practices pure living. No one talks about religion here. All are welcome and everyone participates in seva, whether it's working in the farms, or in the kitchen," adds Sharma, who was one of the five crore devotees, who attended Ram Rahim's 50th birthday celebrations in Sirsa, on August 15, this year.

Some like Vinod Gaikwad were drawn to Ram Rahim, after watching his film, Messenger of God (MSG), 2015, written and starred in by the godman. "That movie inspired me. I took the guru mantra, soon after seeing the film," he says. "He freed 29 women from a prostitution racket. This [the conviction] is a result of political rivalry."

Mohan Sarvaiya, 58, who visits Asaram Bapu's Mumbai ashram thrice every week, says that the self-styled godman helped cure his recurring fits. He was inducted into the faith in 1995 and Ajay Sharma, 48, claims he went from being a hawker to a crorepati after he came in contact with Ram Rahim. The Pune-based businessman owns three factories today

Unlike at Asaram's ashram, where the only way to tell the rising numbers of followers is by calculating how many mouths they feed, at the Dera ashram, every devotee who
has received the guru mantra, gets a locket with a registration number, explains Ramnath Insan, 60, who we find driving a tractor on the farmland.

Crafty PR machinery
Apart from staunch followers and dedicated management staff, Asaram and Ram Rahim's sects rely on those who work behind the shadows to spread the good word. Rakhi Wadhwani, who identifies herself as a saadhak/sevak, is Mumbai spokesperson for the Asaram Bapu outfit. We ask her who runs the website and social media accounts, and all she will say is "volunteers". "They are based everywhere, in India and abroad," she says.

Bhavdeep Kang, independent journalist and author of Gurus: Stories of India's Leading Babas

On Asaram's official website (www.ashram.org), the 'Press' tab takes you to sections titled False Allegations and Court Proceedings. There is also a page called Difference Between Fake and Real News, where media reports are juxtaposed with "reality".

Most of these tabs were introduced in 2013, following Asaram's arrest. "This is where we tell our side of the story, communicate what we know as true," Wadhwani says. We tell her we stumbled on Carpe Diem, a YouTube channel, run by a certain Rakhi Wadhwani, that has videos of Asaram's satsangs. We assume it's her running it. "I don't know who runs the channel," she says abruptly before cutting the call.

Atul Bansal, 32, an IT professional based out of Pune, belongs to the team that handles Ram Rahim's social media accounts. "We use WhatsApp mainly to spread the word," he says. Fresh graduates in business management, advertising, public relations, and chartered accountants, are hired to run systems as professionally as possible. Hamid Dabholkar, son of slain rationalist and anti-superstition activist, Dr Narendra Dabholkar is a psychiatrist who runs Maharashtra Andhashashtra Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) that was set up by his father.

Hamid Dabholkar, son of anti-superstition activist, Dr Narendra Dabholkar

"Without expertise, it is impossible to run a business empire," he says of the talent that organisations like Ram Rahim's attract and hire. "The young Turks [media and finance managers] get to earn good money and be a part of the nexus. And since they are nameless, they can be easily replaced if need be. The point is, there cannot be a second line of control in these cults. They don't operate on a democratic mechanism."

Dabholkar says this even as news comes in of Ram Rahim's son Jasmeet Singh Insan, 32, being his most likely successor following a meeting held by his mother, wife and other sect seniors. This is an important development given that out-of-family contenders like his adopted daughters Vipassana and Honeypreet, were eyeing the leadership role. Honeypreet, currently wanted by the Haryana police for plotting to help Ram Rahim escape from court, was known to the world as his adopted daughter, although her husband Vishwas Gupta had said the two shared an illicit relationship. A recent press report also spoke of the guru pining for his confidant and "masseuse", wailing in jail.

Why followers stay
Dabholkar says it's unlikely that the empire will be affected given that it's well oiled by the politician-religious guru nexus. "It's a parallel economy, facilitated by the business they generate in terms of merchandise and of course, massive donations. This is a zero-capital business. It lures people on blind faith, gives them an easy escape route, where they don't need to take responsibility for their problems. People shunned by their families find material comfort here. It is not surprising to see followers blindly support the gurus. A person with an inquisitive mind won't fall prey to such a belief system in the first place. Systematic indoctrination is at work here," he argues.

Independent journalist and author of Gurus: Stories of India's Leading Babas, Bhavdeep Kang, believes otherwise. "The deras have a tradition of nomination and if you don't have a strong successor in place, it will fall apart," she says. "When Ram Rahim joined the Dera Sacha Sauda, he was only 23. It was a small outfit. He expanded it a hundred times over. His son evidently lacks his magnetic charisma to helm the empire. He can at best run a holding operation."

Speaking of the empire itself, Kang points out that the court has ordered for the Dera assets to be investigated. "The court may find that a lot of these assets are benami, which will then attract the provisions of the Benami Act and could be confiscated. Funds from this might be used to compensate for the losses suffered during the riot that broke out following his conviction. Then, there would be very little left for the inheritor to manage. The Dera will automatically shrink."

Kang foresees the same future for Asaram if convicted, especially since his son Narayan Sai, is also jailed in a rape case. "Their managers will do the job until told otherwise. But, without a central figure to keep an eye, there is a possibility of decay. How will you stop middlemen from lining their own pockets?"

With case after case going against them, it's likely that donations will dry up. "The relationship a godman shares with his followers is different from that he does with high-profile friends. They won't see a reason to invest in the guru anymore, now that he is in jail. He has lost his political influence, and halo."

66
No. of hrs in which Ram Rahim's followers claim the Satara ashram was miraculously built

Rs 10k
Estimated assets (in crore) of Asaram Bapu, excluding the land he owns across India

23
Area (in acres) of Dera ashram in Kalote