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HomeIndiaGovernanceOn Asaram ashram’s website, Modi, Sibal & Vajpayee have left suspiciously glowing...

On Asaram ashram’s website, Modi, Sibal & Vajpayee have left suspiciously glowing praises

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The testimonies were all published on the same day, about two years after the ‘godman’ was arrested for the rape of a minor, and offer similar lofty tributes.

New Delhi: ‘Godman’ Asaram Bapu was Wednesday found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison.

Curiously, a website which claims to belong to Asaram’s ashram still displays supposed testimonials from India’s top politicians and leaders. These include current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Presidents Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and K.R. Narayanan, as well as top politicians such as BJP’s L.K. Advani, Congress’s Kapil Sibal, and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Lofty praise

A closer look at the testimonies reveals that all of them were published on the same date, 25 July 2015. All of them use lofty words, say similar things, and refer to Asaram with titles ranging from ‘Pujya Bapuji’ to ‘His Holiness’.

In his ‘testimony’, Modi says: “May I and all the people walk in the light of the divine torch of cultural traits emanating from Your sacrifice.”

Thackeray asks Asaram to “bless us such that we may shoulder the responsibility assigned by You”.

Vajpayee’s ‘testimony’ starts like Marc Antony’s speech from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. He says: “My brothers and sisters – absorbed in the bliss of devotion to Pujya Bapuji!”

He goes on to say that “we had committed the cardinal sin of almost forgetting our ancient heritage”, but now “Bapuji is opening our eyes”.

Former law minister Kapil Sibal is particularly concerned about the state of the country in his ‘testimonial’. He says that the “spiritual peace, which is on the verge of extinction in the hectic and competitive age of today, is being easily imparted to mankind by your efforts”.

One theme remains common, all politicians praise Asaram for uplifting society and spreading Indian culture to all parts of the country.

No answers

ThePrint reached all three ashrams mentioned in the website’s ‘contact us’ page – Surat, Delhi, and Ahmedabad — to check the veracity of the testimonials.

While the Surat ‘Sant Shri Asaramji Bapu Ashram’ confirmed that Narendra Modi visited it during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister, it could not provide any information about when the ‘testimony’ were written, or why they were published two years after Asaram was jailed on rape charges.

The Delhi ashram redirected ThePrint to Ahmedabad, which is the biggest of the three. An employee at the centre asked ThePrint to get in touch with the legal team in Delhi. The legal team could not be reached for comment. ThePrint will update this report when the legal team responds to queries.

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