The story of Asaram Bapu, the godman who has been convicted today inside the Jodhpur Central Jail for rape, is like a bollywood potboiler. From a poverty ridden childhood to a Godman with lakhs of followers, from being a Tongawala in ajmer to a Godman with huge following which even included big politicians and businessman.
After Partition, Asumal’s (his original name) father, Taumal Harpalani, came to Gujarat from Pakistan’s Sind. Asumal was seven years old and the family lived in acute poverty. His father worked in different cities of Gujarat before the family came Ajmer in 1963 invited by a relative, Dodhi Ustad, who too had crossed the border and settled in Ajmer.
Young Asumal started ferrying Ajmer Sharif dargah pilgrims on a tonga. He carted pilgrims on his pony cart from the railway station to the dargah. Most of the tongas had wooden boards but Asumal’s tonga had cushioned seats, a fact that made him stand out in the crowd of fellow tongawalas.
Old tongawalas of Ajmer still remember Asumal, an ordinary person whom no one would bother giving a second thought, let alone imagine him becoming a godman with lakhs of followers. the young man was ambitious and wanted to get rich. Once he even participated in a tonga race from Ajmer to Sarwar during the annual Sarwar Urs. After plying his tonga for a few years, he went back to Ahmedabad and no one in Ajmer heard anything about him until he became Bapu Asaram, the godman with huge following all over India.
Asaram is said to have learnt meditation from his mother. When he was 15, he ran away from home to an ashram in Bharuch and later lived in several other ashrams. It was one Lilashah who became his spiritual guru and named him Asaram Bapu.
In 1971, Asaram started out as a spiritual guru from a small hut on the banks of the Sabarmati. With the help of rich followers he built an ashram in Motera near Ahmedabad on 10 acres of land. His empire ultimately included hundreds of ashrams in India and abroad. He claimed to have nearly two crore followers in India and abroad.
His wife Lakshmi Devi, son Narayan Sai and a daughter managed his ashrams and businesses. His trust ran dozens of schools, a printing press and an Ayurvedic pharmacy. According to a PTI report, the scrutiny of documents seized by the police from Asaram’s ashram in Motera area here following his arrest in the rape case in 2013 had revealed that Asaram has amassed wealth of around Rs 10,000 crore, which is excluding the market value of vast track of lands that he holds.
Asaram courted controversy in the national media for his comments on the Nirbhaya rape in 2012. He held the victim responsible for the rape, saying, “Galati ek taraf se nahin hoti hai.” He said the victim should have begged for mercy addressing her assailants as brothers. Asaram had contacts at top political levels, for the simple fact that his followers formed considerable vote banks in several states. Many BJP and Congress governments in different states are said to have helped Asaram expand his spiritual empire.
Suspicion over activities inside Asaram’s ashram arose for the first time in 2008 when decomposed bodies of two boys, whose parents were his followers, were found near the ashram. Asaram was accused of conducting Tantrik rituals inside the ashram.
The Godman was arrested in 2013 after a 16-year-old girl accused him of sexual assault in his ashram on the outskirts of Jodhpur. He was charged under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Asaram was arrested from Indore and brought to Jodhpur central jail on September 1, 2013. He has been under judicial custody since then.
He is embroiled in a rape case in Gujarat as well, where two sisters have lodged separate complaints against him and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement. Over the last four years, since the trial began, as many as nine witnesses in the two cases have been attacked. Three of them have died.
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