The ‘Influential’ Convicts

To believe that many famous and ‘influential’ convicts (read, electorally relevant for commanding sizable followers) getting frequent parole has nothing to do with external environmental acquiescence, is to live under a rock. Living in times when many ‘presumed’ guilty, not convicted, can be subjected to repetitive bail denials.

Meanwhile, an inexplicable spirit of leniency and accommodation is afforded on convicted persons. This is a travesty of justice and duplicity in application of the law of the land. The unfairness of this spirit of accommodation is often more glaring, apparent, and brazen during election season.

Many self-appointed Godmen/Godwomen of various religious denominations have sprung up in recent decades. Invariably, they create an ecosystem of township and followers therein, or elsewhere, who could be significant in tilting results in elections.

These people can also be seen extrapolating their ‘divinity’ onto commercial interests that ensured that they, or their missions, hold major socio-economic sway in regions of their operations. Like most swayable electorate, these elements too would bend conveniently according to the dominant partisan winds of the time – or towards whichever side offered them a better proposition for them individually, or for their missions.

Therefore, since Independence, all political parties, without exception, have assiduously wooed these power-banks towards their own ends. These divine ‘empires’ too bargain hard to get the most optimum quid pro quo of nudging their adherents towards one partisan side or the other.

In the melee of preserved relevance, these ‘demi-Gods’ remain deified, protected and empowered to do as they will. Many obvious excesses or missteps can be conveniently overlooked, contexualised, or even defended to keep them in good humour and more importantly, on the right side of en bloc voters.

History is witness to many such ‘Godmen/Godwomen’ becoming the proverbial ‘kingmakers’ and power brokers. They assume the pride of place in the national narrative and even officialdom. Despite the fact that many got exposed, it remains a thriving ‘industry’ as newer claimants to faith, spirituality and even association to the realms of Yoga, Ayurveda, Unaani etc., would emerge from time to time.

The medium of preaching moved from physical audiences to televangelism (and even garish movies) to such an extent, that certain channels dedicated to spiritualism and discourse soon emerged. Some of these televangelists even went on to launch their own channels – till they fell on the wrong side of political winds, and soon found themselves in exile.

Many of the highest holders of governmental offices have beseeched these people to seek their ‘blessings’, an undisguised euphemism for partisan endorsement.

Recently an infamous Godman convicted of rape, sentenced to jail for twenty years, and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, with many still pending cases, was in news for extraordinary generosity afforded to him, by the State.

He was known to openly issue diktats to his followers to vote for certain candidates or party. That partisan persuasion of choice was never consistent, and could change with time and circumstances.

That he was given permission to remain out of jail for 232 days in the last two years, says a lot about his influence and the willingness of those in power to entertain him, despite his proven conviction in the most heinous of crimes.

In a rare case of judicial correction, the courts have directed the State government to ‘not consider’ any parole application ‘without permission of this court’. The leniency afforded to the convict can be gauged from the fact that it was the seventh parole in 10 months! The pattern of extending parole, especially around national or state elections, is well established.

In yet another case of an influential godmen serving a sentence, again for rape, the Supreme Court has denied bail or overruling of a High Court denial earlier, and instead asked the convict to re-approach the High Court. The rape convict reportedly sought leeway to partake Ayurvedic treatment, as he is over 80 years and supposedly suffering from serious disease.

He has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a minor, and later in another case, for the rape of another woman in his ashram. He too is believed to have around 40 million followers and over 400 ashrams across the world where he ostensibly preached meditation and yoga.

His sermons too had attracted the ‘who’s who’ of the Indian political landscape. Despite their known misdemeanours, these ‘Godmen’ clearly hold much leverage with unhinged politicians who could seek their overt or covert blessings.

Many of these ‘Godmen/Godwomen’ have mocked the writ of law by cocking a snook at laws by virtually running parallel states and bylaws in their fiefdoms. The fact that they could be convicted of frauds, shady deals, trafficking, assault, murders, rape, and sexual abuse, or that their followers had vandalised, rampaged, and clashed with security forces, has not diminished their ‘value’ during election season.

Endorsements by them is a powerful attraction. Many amongst the so-called literate cadres of the complicit political parties still offer lame contexts, whataboutery and puerile legalese to defend the indefensible.

It is a practical and efficient set-up, as these ‘godmen’ nurture their adherents into captive markets and consumers for their own branded product and purposes. They can then further milk their dedicated universe towards political barter, in return for uninterrupted continuation of their ways. Spiritual capitalism is perhaps the best definition of these enterprises.

Recently the Supreme Court came down heavily on yet another ‘Baba’ for publishing misleading advertisements and banned it from marketing its products until further orders were passed. It slammed the inexplicable rope afforded to the said person’s enterprise by slamming, “The entire country is taken for a ride” and added, “The government is sitting with its eyes closed”.

But it isn’t the first time that such a strong opinion was expressed by apolitical institutions like the judiciary, but that hasn’t changed the sense of entitlement and privilege, rightly imagined by some of these shamans. Ultimately it is not their spirituality or the ostensible social service that they undertake that earns them extraordinary leniencies, but their sway over electoral fortunes.

As the election season nears, brace yourself for more accommodations, paroles and bails that makes a mockery of an ordinary citizen who lives under the genuine fear of excesses and unfair trials at the hands of the same agencies and forces that seem to surprisingly and regrettably be gentler on this lot.

Lt. Gen. Bhopinder Singh is the former Lieutenant Governor of The Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Pondicherry and an Indian Army officer who was awarded the PVSM. Views are the writer’s own.

Cover Illustration- The Hindu