A new sort of sex scandal surfaced during last few weeks, with involvement of some self-styled god-men. God-men like Swami Nityanand and Ichhchadhari Baba put out their brand of spirituality, which apparently gives solace to the aggrieved middle and lower middle classes among others. Meera Nanda in her book, The God Market argues that there is an increased religiosity, collusion with the corporate world and the state. In India, a subtle Hindusisation is going on as such and this has been aided by the private sector. There is an active promotion of religious tourism. Higher education is being handed over to private sector. State has been generous in giving away land at highly subsidised rates to the gurus and god-men. One can say that these swamis of the ilk of Nityanand and Ichchhadhari are just the visible part of a larger phenomenon. These two cases also show the range of activities, from the spiritual façade to downright sex racket. Society has to learn a lesson from the sprawling wealth and sexual exploitation committed by a section of god-men and to understand as to what is really taking place in the garb of holy clothes is a mere misuse of faith for crass purposes.
Mohd Ziyaullah Khan
Nagpur, Maharashtra