Hathras Stampede: People are getting trapped in the vicious cycle of faith merchants, accidents like Hathras stampede have happened many times

Hathras stampede , India is a religious country. This is not a constitutional but a practical definition. Being religious is still the most common thing in the whole world. In the past too, the entire responsibility of running the society was on religious leaders and religious institutions. Be it the churches of Europe or the Caliphs of Turkey. In India too, the influence of different religions on power is clearly visible in different dynasties, be it Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam. Then from the last decade of the 14th century to the 17th century, religious and cultural movements took place in many countries of Europe from Italy to France in which the power of religion was challenged. This was called Renaissance in English. Well, if we talk about India, here too, Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, these four pillars of life have been described. Obviously, Dharma is on the first position in the order. Faith and logic are two opposite poles.

A person surrounded by challenges on every front of life finds some mental peace by surrendering to religion and handing over his troubles to God. This is a great psychological support for him. But the problem arises when the traders of faith come between God and the devotee.

The tradition of so-called godmen, incarnations and self-proclaimed saints is very old in all religions. This is neither the first nor the last incident of stampede in a Baba’s gathering. But there are some things about the main character of this incident that you must know.

The real name of this self-proclaimed Baba is Surajpal Jatav

The real name of this self-proclaimed Baba, who is very popular in western UP as Narayan Sakar Hari alias Bhole Baba alias Vishwa Hari, is Surajpal Jatav. He used to be a constable in UP Police. Surajpal Jatav was suspended from UP Police in a molestation case in 1996. Senior Superintendent of Police of Etawah, Sanjay Kumar told the media that not only were the charges against Surajpal Jatav proved in the molestation case, but he was also imprisoned in Etah jail for a long time. Due to this, he was suspended. Surajpal went to the court to save his job, and was also reinstated. In 2002, Surajpal took VRS i.e. voluntary retirement from Agra district.

‘Surajpal had to get rid of the image of a molestation accused’

After this Surajpal reached his village Nagla Bahadurpur. Surajpal wanted to get rid of the image of a molestation accused. At this time he claimed that he had established direct communication with God and after this Surajpal started establishing himself as Bhole Baba. After establishing communication with God, Baba started his sermon from a two room house in Shahganj, Agra. Baba used to claim to treat people with the hand pump in front of the house. His aunt also sits with Baba to give sermons. At first a few people came, then the number increased and the number of devotees of this self-proclaimed Baba reached from thousands to lakhs.

Bhole Baba’s getup was also different from other Babas

The number of Baba’s ashrams kept increasing and so did the number of influential devotees. Bhole Baba’s getup was also different from other Babas. Most of Bhole Baba’s devotees, who wore white suits and rode in luxury cars, were from the Scheduled Castes and poor people, in which the number of women was much higher. Baba also has his own army which is called Sevadaar. These Sevadaars take care of all the arrangements in Baba’s satsangs.

Narayan Sakar Hari’s committee runs

Narayan Sakar Hari runs a committee. People in his committee involve women in settlements and neighborhoods. Women are taken to satsangs. Women are made to do service work for 10-10 days. Illiterate and backward class women were included in the committee. Donations are taken from big businessmen and wealthy people to organize satsangs. It is not that Surajpal Jatav never got into controversies after becoming a Baba.

…then who would have laid a hand on Baba

Despite the restrictions of the Corona period, he had organized a huge satsang in Farrukhabad, then the district administration had allowed only 50 people to attend the satsang, but flouting the law, more than 50,000 people attended the satsang. But when big leaders themselves are devotees of Baba, then who would touch Baba. The administration was also informed about Baba’s program in Hathras. It was said that 80 thousand people could come but more than two and a half lakh people came.

Devotees ran behind his car convoy to get the dust of his feet

The program ended and when Baba was leaving, the devotees ran behind his car convoy to touch his feet. Then there was such a stampede in which 121 people have been confirmed dead so far. There were 7 organizers of this satsang and all of them are absconding at the moment, their phones are switched off, the police have not been able to contact them till now. That is, those who gave the message of humanity and had direct communication with God are absconding. Cases have been registered against Baba and all the organizers in serious matters. SIT has been formed to investigate this accident. All the reasons of this incident and every angle of negligence should be investigated. Baba should also come forward to help his devotees financially and also before the law.