bollywood-holywood: rec.arts.movies.local.indian - 15 new messages in 6 topics

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Today's topics:

* best products, fastest and safest shipping and best servings - 1 messages, 1
author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e345cb5824de60e5?hl=en
* UK RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS FORCED TO PROMOTE ABORTION, HOMOSEXUALITY UNDER SEX-ED
BILL - 5 messages, 3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/dcfc2e198d269895?hl=en
* WHY THE BIG FUSS OVER ONE MUSLIM LEADER CONDEMNING TERRORISTS? - 4 messages,
3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/54e137b93f3610de?hl=en
* GANG WAR ERUPTS IN BHENDI BAZAAR - 3 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e19d9793a12a546d?hl=en
* SHORTLISTED FIRM WITH RAJA-LINK FLOUTS RULE - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e9a526d685abdbeb?hl=en
* home based work - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/3d4a59363f08fd90?hl=en

==============================================================================
TOPIC: best products, fastest and safest shipping and best servings
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e345cb5824de60e5?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 9 2010 9:00 pm
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: UK RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS FORCED TO PROMOTE ABORTION, HOMOSEXUALITY UNDER
SEX-ED BILL
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/dcfc2e198d269895?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 12:44 am
From: "Seon Ferguson"

"regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
news:4b962001@news.comindico.com.au...
> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>> news:4b95e67d@news.comindico.com.au...
>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>> news:4b95445d@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:4b9322db@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>> news:4b92d9bb@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ffea7@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ea93e@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8d5c97@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ac980@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8a34ae$1@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> <brevity snip>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Taken from the God Delusion By Richard Dawkins
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> "In 1954 The British mathematician Alan Turing, a candidate
>>>>>>>>>>>> along with John Von Neumann for the title of father of the
>>>>>>>>>>>> computer, committed suicide after being convicted of the
>>>>>>>>>>>> criminal offence of homosexual behavior in private.
>>>>>>>>>>>> Admittedly Turing was not buried alive under a wall pushed
>>>>>>>>>>>> over by a tank. He was offered a choice between two years
>>>>>>>>>>>> in prison (can you imagine how the other prisoners would
>>>>>>>>>>>> have treated him?) and of course a hormone injections which
>>>>>>>>>>>> could be said to amount to chemical castration, and would
>>>>>>>>>>>> have caused him to grow breasts"
>>>>>>>>>>> Do you really think suicide was a reasonable and rational
>>>>>>>>>>> choice? This is further evidence of Homosexual's known
>>>>>>>>>>> defects in rational behaviour leaning to acts of self harm.
>>>>>>>>>>> A good reason why Homosexuality should be reconsidered as a
>>>>>>>>>>> mental illness and treated as a mental illness .
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Yep I knew a nazi scum like you would support something like
>>>>>>>>>> that. Yes it is reasonable. Do you know how he would have been
>>>>>>>>>> treated in jail? He would have the crap beaten out of him.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So I'm Nazi scum cause I don't think it is reasonable or
>>>>>>>>> rational for Homosexuals to suicide ?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> You are a Nazi because you want to outlaw homosexuality and
>>>>>>>> support what happened to him.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> No and no
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Making Homosexual acts unlawful would not impact on whether
>>>>>>> someone has Homosexual attractions.
>>>>>>> You are the one supporting him killing himself. I believe if he
>>>>>>> had been declared unbalanced he
>>>>>>> should have received different style of intervention that may not
>>>>>>> have ended up with him killing himself
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> I don't think homosexuality should be outlawed like you.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't believe Homosexuality _can_ be outlawed, it is
>>>>> fundamentally a mental
>>>>> illness of unknown causes but the practices that cause risk to the
>>>>> community need to be deemed illegal.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I have an idea how he would have been treated in gaol. Many
>>>>>>>>> people go to gaol. Sane people don't consider suicide as a
>>>>>>>>> reasonable or rational alternative.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Now if the guy had been declared a nutter, it is likely he
>>>>>>>>> wouldn't have been sent to gaol, though I am no expert on 1954
>>>>>>>>> Pommy sentencing procedure.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Though I suspect the suicide had more to do with the social
>>>>>>>>> disgrace and shame of being outed as a Poofter than some fear
>>>>>>>>> of being bashed.
>>>>>>>>> http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnBooks:How_to_be_Gay_Whilst_in_Gaol
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> By advocating to make an act 2 adults make in the privacy of
>>>>>>>>>>>> their own bedroom illegal, you are saying this brilliant man
>>>>>>>>>>>> deserved to die. And by saying that that proves you are just
>>>>>>>>>>>> as wicked and just as evil as the Taliban.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Making unlawful, `Homosexual acts` is not banning or `making
>>>>>>>>>>> unlawfull', Homosexuality.
>>>>>>>>>>> Can you come to grips with this concept?
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> It's just as bad.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> It allows Homosexuals the same freedoms we all have.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Wait do you mean we should make homosexual acts lawful then? You
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We have freedoms to go about our business as long as we do not
>>>>>>> infringe the rules or the law.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> And there is no law forbidding homosexual acts and you will never
>>>>>> get your way.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm sure Homosexuals, trawling public toilets and having public sex
>>>>> breaks decency laws.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> confuse me. But if banning homosexuality is giving "Them" the
>>>>>>>> same rights we have that is a load of shit.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If they don't break the law, they don't get locked up for
>>>>>>> breaking the law.
>>>>>>> Same freedoms I and you have.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> How `grown up` of you Seon.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> I am more grown up then hateful neo nazi's like you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Spitting poorly thought insults like `Neo Nazi' at me
>>>>>>>>>>> demonstrates otherwise.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> You are a neo nazi. You hate gay people. Nazi's, the kkk, the
>>>>>>>>>> taliban, the dictators of iran all hate gay people as well. So
>>>>>>>>>> you are just as wicked as they are. And you also have an
>>>>>>>>>> irrational fear of homosexuals wanting to force everyone to be
>>>>>>>>>> gay. That is bullshit as well. All they want is tolerance and
>>>>>>>>>> to be allowed to be themselves. And nazi punks like you would
>>>>>>>>>> have them thrown in jail.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Your conceptions about my beliefs are really screwed up.
>>>>>>>>> I don't hate Homosexuals
>>>>>>>>> there is no irrational fear on my part, though irrational fear
>>>>>>>>> may explain why your Faggot Hero topped hisself.
>>>>>>>>> Homosexuals are not trying to force everyone to be Homosexual
>>>>>>>>> They want more than just tolerance (big mistake)
>>>>>>>>> I am not a Punk anything or a Nazi for that matter, as far the
>>>>>>>>> world recognises the label.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Oh, and in Australia we call it Gaol.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The fact that you called him a "Faggot" proves you are a hater.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Nonsense.
>>>>>>> Faggots call each other Faggots.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> So what does that make you? A hater or a "Faggot"
>>>>>>
>>>>> Neither.
>>>>> It is a common word in common usage.
>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Bit harsh with the `paranoid loon` insult but
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> you're showing signs of improvement. I'll have
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> you wanting to ban the Mardi Gras, before you know it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Not as long as it pours money into Sydney.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Does it pour all over Sydney or just a few Venues? If these
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Venues turnovers are improved $30 million, surely they
>>>>>>>>>>>>> should be able to get together and pay for it themselves.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> So should only a few Venus have to pay for the Australian
>>>>>>>>>>>> Day Parade? Should only Darling Harbour have to pay for the
>>>>>>>>>>>> fireworks?
>>>>>>>>>>> The Venues that profit from it should cough up.
>>>>>>>>>>> Spending money in Sydney that could be better spent on Health
>>>>>>>>>>> services around the state to help taxpayers who only see the
>>>>>>>>>>> firewoks on the TV .
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Ok so at least your not a hypocrite.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> you're
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -you know it costs the taxpayers in NSW mmm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> we aren't actually told how much we are paying for the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> priviledge of boosting
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the turnover in a few Sydney venues by a claimed 30
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Million a year and supposedly bringing in 500 000 sex
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> tourists from all parts of the Globe
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with all the latest diseases to share around
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So? it brings money to Sydney. Big deal.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> It brings Sex tourists from across the globe and all the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> newest STD's such as AIDS variants and injects it into the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> most negligently promiscous minority to filter on down to
>>>>>>>>>>>>> eventually expose innocents to death and illness.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> The Sydney sex show or cougar convention also brings aids
>>>>>>>>>>>> because as I have exposed aids can be spread by straight
>>>>>>>>>>>> sex. Should we outlaw those?
>>>>>>>>>>> I would expect that without a Homosexual Mardi Gras these sex
>>>>>>>>>>> shows would likely be seen for the Hedonistic aberrations
>>>>>>>>>>> they are.
>>>>>>>>>> Yep because any sexual act that doesn't include making babies
>>>>>>>>>> is perverted right? You are one sad dude, dude.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Nope. You won't find any quote where I make that claim.
>>>>>>>>> Are you a Gorge Garcia fan or something? Dude, Dude?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> "Hedonistic aberrations" You also said sex should be used for
>>>>>>>> reproductive somewhere.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You do realise that not every single `winky pop' results in a
>>>>>>> pregnancy. I never said sex _should_ be used for getting some
>>>>>>> tart pregnant everytime iether.
>>>>>>> I associate hysterical claims like these coming from you with
>>>>>>> Homosexuals. Are you worried because you have a sexual
>>>>>>> attraction to men?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Why are you making an offer?
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Any offer you think is there is just wishfull thinking
>>>>> and desperation on your part.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> drug use is rife
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2010/03/03/honesty-needed-over-drug-use/22398
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Bigotry is rife
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Well it takes one to know one.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/secret-life-of-hamish-20100207-nkxz.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [quote stt]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ANIMAL Liberation NSW is no longer queer enough for the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [quote fin]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Homosexuals are prone to bigotry against all other sexual
>>>>>>>>>>>>> aberrations. not just Homosexual Beastialists.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I found something cute
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.rainbowlabor.org/pages/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> apparantly rainbow is the next word to be hijacked by the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Homosexual agenda
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> to describe Homosexuals.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Oh the horror! Yes that proves they all hate us and want to
>>>>>>>>>>>> make straight sex illegal. Yes that proves they are just as
>>>>>>>>>>>> bad as neo nazi's like you! Oh no what next!
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> live sex shows involving 12 yr olds coming to a Mall near
>>>>>>>>>>> you.
>>>>>>>>>> That is evidence that you have an irrational fear of
>>>>>>>>>> homosexuals.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Please explain?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> You believe in the "Homosexual agenda" the only agenda we should
>>>>>>>> fear is the Nazi agenda which you support.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Did I say I was a afraid of the Homosexual Agenda? No I did not,
>>>>>>> so where do you get this nonsense from?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> You have an irrational fear that gay people are trying to turn
>>>>>> everyone gay.
>>>>>
>>>>> Another one of your juvenile assumptions. I have no irrational fear
>>>>> of pillow biters or carpet munchers trying to turn everyone into
>>>>> pillow biters
>>>>> or carpet munchers.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Having sex with someone under 18 is a CRIME and will never be
>>>>>>>>>> allowed. Also if all gay people want to fuck boys does that
>>>>>>>>>> mean all straight people want to fuck little girls?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> You need to read up on this a bit first
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Age_of_Consent.png
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> There's nothing in there that answers my question.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'd say you didn't read it well enough to understand it is legal
>>>>>>> to have sex with under 18 yr olds in about 99% of the world and
>>>>>>> you plainly know fuck all about it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If all gay people want to fuck little boys then do all straight
>>>>>>>> people want to fuck little girls?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yet again you avoided to answer this question...
>>>>>
>>>>> It is a particularly stupid question. The answer is plainly `No'
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> So why is it that you say all gay people want to fuck little boys?
>>>
>>> I never said `all Homosexuals want to fuck little boys'
>>> . You really have a comprehension problem.You might want to
>>> give the weed a rest.
>>>
>>>
>> You try to link homosexuality with pedophilia. So to be fair we
>> should link straight people with it as well.
>
> Didn't do that either. Can't find the quote?
> I said something to the effect; Homosexuals start early (underaged)
> and in their turn, partake of the `fresh meat'
>
>
> Didn't mention kiddies, or all Homosexuals or Pediastry.
> these are products of your desperate imagination.
>
> Generation Z
> zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
>
>
>
>
>
Most gay people are law abiding citizens, but they are pedophiles just like
they are pedophile straight people.

== 2 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 10:14 am
From: "regn.pickfod"

Seon Ferguson wrote:
> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
> news:4b962001@news.comindico.com.au...
>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>> news:4b95e67d@news.comindico.com.au...

>>> You try to link homosexuality with pedophilia. So to be fair we
>>> should link straight people with it as well.
>>
>> Didn't do that either. Can't find the quote?
>> I said something to the effect; Homosexuals start early (underaged)
>> and in their turn, partake of the `fresh meat'
>>
>>
>> Didn't mention kiddies, or all Homosexuals or Pediastry.
>> these are products of your desperate imagination.
>>
>> Generation Z
>> zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Most gay people are law abiding citizens, but they are pedophiles
> just like they are pedophile straight people.

There.

Homosexuals live a criminally negligent lifestyle where
there is a great deal of `risky sex' This has been seen in the past
to spread at least _one_ disease pandemic (who knows the real number)

What goes on behind closed doors does impact on the community as these
people leave their rooms and have contact with the world, donate blood
and share needles, swap spit etc.

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 10:38 am
From: rfischer@sonic.net (Ray Fischer)

regn.pickfod <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote:
>Homosexuals live a criminally negligent lifestyle where

We all know that you anti-gay perverts just want it to be legal to
murder the people that you're so scared of.

--
Ray Fischer
rfischer@sonic.net

== 4 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 10:13 pm
From: "regn.pickfod"

Ray Fischer wrote:
> regn.pickfod <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote:
>> Homosexuals live a criminally negligent lifestyle where
>
> We all know that you anti-gay perverts just want it to be legal to
> murder the people that you're so scared of.

I shouldn't be surprised Homophiles have a serious comprehension
problem; after all they fail to comprehend the dangers to society of
unfettered Homosexual lifestyles.

"to be legal to murder someone" the scary thing is you probably
have a license to drive a vehicle on the road.

== 5 of 5 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 11:04 pm
From: rfischer@sonic.net (Ray Fischer)

regn.pickfod <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote:
>Ray Fischer wrote:
>> regn.pickfod <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote:
>>> Homosexuals live a criminally negligent lifestyle where
>>
>> We all know that you anti-gay perverts just want it to be legal to
>> murder the people that you're so scared of.
>
>I shouldn't be surprised Homophiles have a serious comprehension
>problem;

Smirk. You don't like it when your own shit is thrown back at you.

> after all they fail to comprehend the dangers to society of
>unfettered Homosexual lifestyles.

Your perverted need to justfy your murderous hatred does not make
anybody other than yourself dangerous.

--
Ray Fischer
rfischer@sonic.net

==============================================================================
TOPIC: WHY THE BIG FUSS OVER ONE MUSLIM LEADER CONDEMNING TERRORISTS?
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/54e137b93f3610de?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 2:53 am
From: bademiyansubhanallah

WRAPUP 2-Japan finmin wary of any formal policy accord with BOJ

(Adds more comments)
By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO,
March 10 (Reuters) -

Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan shot down the idea of a formal
policy pact with the Bank of
Japan as the government aims to strike a delicate balance
between pushing the central bank to ease policy further and
respecting its independence. The idea of a formal policy accord has
been floated in the
past by critics of the central bank who feel it could be doing
more to combat grinding deflation that has plagued the world's
second-largest economy for most of the past 15 years. But Kan, who has
also been calling on the BOJ to take
bolder action, said he saw no immediate need for such a pact,
echoing the view held by a majority of policy makers and
politicians wary of threatening the central bank's
independence. "I gather advocates of such a policy want an arrangement
where the government increases the deficits and the BOJ
cooperates by buying more government debt," said Izuru Kato,
chief economist at Totan Research. "They must be thinking central bank
independence allows the
BOJ to be too hesitant about buying government bonds and
therefore they should strip the BOJ of its independence," Kato
said. Kan steered clear of saying exactly what he wants the
central bank to do at its policy meeting next week, where
further easing is likely to be discussed. [ID:nTOE6230A7] BOJ board
member Miyako Suda, seen as hawkish on monetary
policy, said on Wednesday that the central bank will maintain a
very accommodative stance, but she added that the BOJ had
implemented an appropriate policy on prices. "Suda did not sound so
positive about taking more steps
blindly. It's not clear how strong the measures the BOJ takes
next week will be," said Naomi Hasegawa, senior strategist at
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. With the government's room for further
fiscal stimulus
limited by a public debt that is already close to 200 percent
of GDP, the six-month old administration has put pressure on
the central bank to stem deflation. But the BOJ's options are limited
as long as the economic
outlook remains weak. Expectations of further price declines in future
could
persuade consumers and companies to delay spending and
investment even longer, adding more pressure on the economy.
Until demand picks up and more money flows into the system,
prices will struggle to recover. The BOJ has said prices will rise
eventually as the economy
mends. TOO MUCH INDEPENDENCE? Japan's central bank law guarantees the
BOJ independence in
its policy decisions, but it also requires the bank to
communicate with the government to ensure its policy is in line
with the government's economic policy. Few in the top circle of
Japanese policymakers see the need
for a change in those stipulations. "I am cautious about the framework
of an accord," Kan, also
deputy prime minister, told a parliamentary committee on
Wednesday in response to an opposition lawmaker's question. But some
politicians, mostly from the opposition, have said
the BOJ needs to be more accountable for its decisions, blaming
it for putting Japan in deflation for much of the past 15
years. The BOJ is likely to debate easing again at its March 16-17
board meeting, after introducing a new funding operation in
December amid a wave of government pressure as the yen climbed
versus the dollar. [ID:nTOE6230A7] "If they increase the cheap funding
operation to replace
the corporate support scheme that expires in March, that's
probably already priced in," said Hasegawa of Mitsubishi UFJ
Securities. The Bank of Japan's Suda dropped few hints, repeating the
BOJ's view that easy policy alone is no panacea for deflation.
"Although maintaining easy monetary policy is the top
priority, it is important for the Japanese economy to undergo
bold structural reform as much as it needs a recovery," she
said, referring to the need to fix Japan's pension system and
get public finances in order to reduce concerns about the
future. "If structural reform is delayed, it would undermine the
stimulative effect of monetary policy," she said. Japan's core
machinery orders fell slightly less than
expected in January from the previous month, data showed on
Wednesday, offering more evidence that capital expenditure will
keep growing slowly this year as manufacturers raise spending. Core
private-sector machinery orders, a highly volatile
series regarded as an indicator of capital spending, fell 3.7
percent in January, less than a median market forecast for a
4.1 percent decline, after a 20.1 percent jump in December.

[JPMORD=ECI] ECONJP But the data also showed non-manufacturers remain
wary on
capital spending, highlighting the weakness in domestic demand. Annual
wholesale price deflation eased to 1.5 percent in
February on a recent rise in commodity prices. But economists say
deflationary pressure is likely to
continue due to the big gap between supply and demand. Japan pulled
out of recession in April-June last year,
helped by a rebound in exports and industrial output as well as
a rise in consumption due to government subsidies. But
economists expect growth to slow early this year as the
government cuts public works and the impact of subsidies
fades.

(Additional reporting by Rie Ishiguro, Stanley White, Leika
Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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At 0450 GMT, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average index was down 0.08%.

Dealers said the European single currency could fall toward $1.3300
and Y119.00 over the next few weeks if any negative news emerges on
Europe's fiscal issues, adding to concerns over its economic outlook,
dealers said.

The focus is on European countries' huge levels of debt, said Hideaki
Inoue, a chief foreign-exchange manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and
Banking Corp. "Growing expectations for sovereign debt default could
prompt mid- and long-term players to sell" the euro, he said.

Although most players are bearish toward the euro, better-than-
expected economic data could help restore investor confidence,
possibly buoying the risk-sensitive euro toward $1.3700 and Y123.50,
some dealers said. Investors will monitor U.S. retail sales for
February and Reuters/University Of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey
for March, both due Friday, for any hints on the health of the global
economy.

Elsewhere, the dollar stood at Y90.00 as of 0450 GMT, almost unchanged
from its New York level of Y89.97 Tuesday. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index,
which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of
currencies, was at 80.576 from 80.580.

The U.S. unit may fall toward Y89.50 in coming weeks, traders said.
Japanese exporters may repatriate overseas assets as we move toward
Japan's fiscal year-end on Mar. 31, which could weigh on the U.S.
unit, dealers said.

1.China's trade surplus shrinks further in February
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-trade-surplus-shrinks-further-in-february-2010-03-09

2.The rise and certain fall of the American Empire
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-rise-and-certain-fall-of-the-american-empire-2010-03-09

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/world-forex-euro-ticks-up-vs-yen-on-japan-importer-buying-2010-03-10

Currencies
March 10, 2010, 3:46 a.m. EST · Recommend · Post:

Dollar rises vs. euro as German trade data disappointView all
Currencies ›
By MarketWatch

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar got a lift against the euro
Wednesday when trade data from Germany, a key euro-zone economy, came
in worse than expected.

News Hub: Economist Warns of More Volatility AheadAnirvan Banerji,
director of research at Economic Cycle Research, joins the News Hub to
discuss why he believes the U.S. economy will experience more frequent
recessions ahead.
Germany's exports increased by 0.2% and imports dropped by 1.4% in
January 2010 compared to the same month a year ago, the Federal
Statistical Office reported on Wednesday. Compared to December 2009,
exports fell by 6.3% in January and imports rose by 6.0%. Germany's
seasonally-adjusted foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of 8.7
billion euros in January, official data showed.

"This was the weakest reading since the March of 2009 when the global
economy was in the throes of its worst contraction in [the] post-war
period. The news was especially surprising given the decline in the
euro/U.S. dollar over the past several months," said Boris
Schlossberg, director of currency research at GFT.

He added that the trade balance data were "not helpful to the single
currency which has been battered by concerns over sovereign debt
problems of Greece, Portugal and Spain."

The euro slipped to $1.3551, from $1.3598 in late North American
trading Tuesday, and the British pound skidded to $1.4898, from
$1.4991.

The dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 80.67, +0.08,
+0.10%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a trade-weighted basket
of six major currencies, rose to 80.851, from 80.580 late Tuesday.

The greenback bought 89.96 yen, compared with 89.98 yen late Tuesday.

But the Australian dollar was up 0.1% against its U.S. counterpart, to
91.43 U.S. cents.

The Aussie "outperformed, with better than expected Chinese trade data
underpinning global recovery hopes in the region," said analysts at
Action Economics.

China's trade surplus narrowed further in February to $7.6 billion
from $14.2 billion in January. When compared with the same month last
year, both exports and imports grew at a higher-than-expected rate,
with the value of imports climbing 44.7%, reflecting growing domestic
consumption in mainland China. The value of outbound goods and
services surged 45.7% from February 2009 on a recovery in demand for
Chinese goods. Read more on China trade data.

On Tuesday, the U.S. dollar advanced versus the euro and British
pound, finding support amid ongoing worries about debt problems in the
euro zone after warnings of downgrades from Fitch Ratings and Moody's
Investors Service. See Tuesday's Currencies report.

More Currencies

March 9, 2010 Dollar up; rating agencies revive debt worries
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aussie-gets-lift-against-us-dollar-from-data-2010-03-09

March 8, 2010 Dollar turns up as U.S. stocks give up gains
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-slips-vs-rivals-in-asian-trading-2010-03-08

March 5, 2010 Dollar falls vs. euro as Greece fears subside
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-gains-on-yen-on-boj-easing-report-2010-03-05

March 4, 2010 Dollar up after U.S. data, Europe's rate news
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-yen-benefit-from-sagging-stocks-in-asia-2010-03-04

March 3, 2010 Dollar falls vs. euro on Greece debt-cut move
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-slips-against-most-rivals-in-asian-trading-2010-03-03

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-rises-as-german-trade-data-disappoint-2010-03-10?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Raymond Richman - Jesse Richman - Howard
Richman

Richmans' Trade and Taxes Blog

The Obama Administration's Agenda to Balance Trade
Raymond Richman, 3/9/2010

On March 1, 2010, Ambassador Ron Kirk, United States Trade
Representative, disclosed "The President's 2010 Trade Policy Agenda",
a suicide pill for the U.S. economy. For three decades, every
administration had more or less the same agenda. Ignore the trade
deficits or just accept them as the inevitable result of competitive
forces, which they are not. If China, Japan, Germany, and others want
to exchange their valuable goods for our money, why should we
complain? We can print more. It is hard to believe that that was and
continues to be the attitude of the vast majority of economists.
They've been brain-washed into believing that market forces must
inevitably restore a balance of trade. We pointed out in our book,
Trading Away Our Future (Ideal Taxes Assn, Jan., 2008) that free trade
was not justified by economic theory, that China, like Japan before
it, was deliberately pursuing the mercantilist policy of promoting a
surplus of exports over imports by erecting all sorts of barriers to
imports while subsidizing exports, keeping its currency artificially
undervalued to make its imports expensive and its exports cheap, by
buying U.S. financial assets to keep U.S.interest rates low to
American consumers, to discourage savings and encourage consumption.
Not until recently did an eminent economist like Prof. Paul Krugman
condemn China's mercantilist practices and suggest U.S. counteraction.
Until then, he believed no country would find it in its interest to
accumulate financial assets rather than goods.

The slow-acting suicide pill suddenly accelerated in the mid-1990s.
The result was the loss of millions of U.S. industrial jobs. How many?
To balance trade at the level of imports in 2008, we would have to
create eight million industrial jobs. The defenders of U.S. trade
policy point to our achievement of full employment in 2007, neglecting
to mention that the competition of factory workers who lost their well-
paying jobs lowered workers' earnings of all workers. As a result,
wages have stagnated over the past three decades, fewer workers enjoy
middle class incomes, income distribution has worsened, and the U.S.
is on the verge of becoming a second-rate industrial power if it has
not already achieved that distinction. ...

In an incredible display of sycophancy, the document asserts that the
administration's goal is "Making Trade Work for America's Working
Families." America's Working Families? They have been the big losers
as a result of our tolerance of our huge chronic trade deficits. The
document asserts that "President Obama's economic strategy halted the
slide into a deep economic crisis and laid the foundation for renewed
American prosperity that is more sustainable, fairer for more of our
citizens, and more competitive globally." That remains to be seen.
Since the President took office, the unemployment rate, including
those who lost their factory jobs as a result of the trade deficits,
has continued to grow and grow.

The Trade Representative gives lip service to the lip-service of the
G-20 nations who pledged in 2009 to work toward balancing trade. It
displays the same Pollyanna-ish reliance on market forces. All we have
to do is increase our exports by $800 billion. His report states that
the U.S. has reacted to unfair trade practices by imposing
countervailing duties on countries committing infractions of trade
rules like dumping (Chinese tires) and even getting China to further
open its market to "American wind energy products." Just the other
day, there were protests in the Congress against imported wind
turbines, which, to add injury to injury, are heavily subsidized by
the U.S. government. The President has set a goal "of doubling U.S.
exports in the next five years" to create 2 million jobs. He created a
new bureaucracy called the Export Promotion Cabinet which will fund
export promotion programs, tools for small- and medium-sized
businesses, reduction in barriers to trade, and open new markets. It
joins hundred of federal agencies designed to do-good but end up doing-
nothing.

The report recites: "Effective trade policy helps increase exports
that yield well-paying jobs for Americans … studies show that firms
engaged in trade usually grow faster, hire more, and on average pay
better wages than those that do not. In recent years, exports of
manufactured goods have become an important source of employment,
supporting almost one in five of all manufacturing jobs." No mention,
not a single mention of the jobs lost to imports, the amount of the
trade deficite, and the declining number of employees in industry,
month after month after month! There is this acknowledgment, "We have
to be frank in recognizing that some Americans lose jobs as markets
shift in response to trade." So we have enacted a Trade Adjustment
Assistance Act to assist those who lose their jobs to adjust to their
new status. No new export jobs are created by the Act.

That is about all the response the loss of millions of American jobs
has occasioned. Nothing to balance trade except statements that we
need to be more competitive and the international community (the
G-20?) should increase their domestic consumption and imports as part
of a more balanced growth strategy! Don't hold your breath.

It announces to the world that the United States is committed to the
multilateral trade rules of the WTO system, to trade liberalization
"through negotiation and a defense against protectionism", the
strongest country in the world announcing that we will not take
unilateral action against the mercantilist practices of such "weak"
countries like China, Japan, Germany, and OPEC. They can continue
their practices, impose barriers to our exports, grant subsidies to
their exports until we petition the WTO for a remedy. The WTO rules
already authorize countries experiencing chronic trade deficits to
take unilateral action including the imposition of tariffs and other
barriers to imports. Why haven't we done anything to protect our
industry and industrial workers from such destructive trade practices?
La-de-da, it would be so unbecoming a great nation. Our elitists want
to be loved by the world's elite, who are by-and-large antii-American.

Attempting to counter the impression that it is doing nothing, the
report points to its action responding to "a harmful surge of Chinese
tire imports", challenging restrictions on U.S. exports of
agricultural products, and filing suit over Chinese export quotas and
duties on raw materials needed by core U.S. industrial sectors from
steel and aluminum to chemicals. Good, those are useful actions but
the number of jobs created relative to the number of jobs lost to the
trade deficits is infinitesimal.

What the U.S. has been engaged in is talk, talk, talk. It needs to
concentrate on jobs, jobs, jobs. The government has engaged in
discussions, just talk, with China, India, Brazil, Russia. It
sponsored and entered into negotiations for a regional, Asia-Pacific
trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Agreement, with Australia, Brunei, Chile, NewZealand, Peru, Singapore,
and Vietnam. Not one industrial job has been created or ever will be.

Another initiative is the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum. The U.S. will host APEC in 2011. The report writes, "To this
end, we are coordinating with the 2010 host nation, Japan, on an
ambitious agenda that engages APEC's broad membership on crucial trade
and investment topics for the region's future. Initiatives in APEC are
a successfully demonstrated way of building a stronger and
constructive American role in the Asia-Pacific market." Aside from
costing a lot of money and providing a free vacation to a lot of anti-
Americans, how many jobs producing goods for export will it create?
Not a single job.

The report recites that "Bilateral relationships are crucial. But as
we know, multi-faceted regional economic relationships are of major,
and even growing, importance for United States and for the world."
Where is the evidence that it is important, let alone of increasing
importance, to the U.S. The administration is doing and plans to do a
lot of talking. In place of jobs, jobs, jobs, it is placing emphasis
on talk, talk, talk.

http://www.idealtaxes.com/post3074.shtml

UPDATE 1-Japan finmin wary of policy accord with BOJ

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said
he saw no immediate need to have a more formal policy pact with the
Bank of Japan as the government and the central bank already share a
common goal of beating deflation.

Kan, who took over at the Finance Ministry in January, has been
calling on the central bank to do more to end deflation, but has
steered clear of saying exactly what he wants the central bank to do.

Asked by an opposition lawmaker if he thought a formal agreement with
the central bank would help, Kan said: "It's questionable whether it's
good to have an explicit policy accord. The BOJ governor has already
said in public that the bank wants inflation from plus zero to plus 2
percent ...

"I am cautious about the framework of an accord," Kan, also deputy
prime minister, told a parliamentary committee.

With the government's room for further fiscal stimulus limited by a
public debt that is already close to 200 percent of GDP, the six-month
old administration has put pressure on the central bank to stem
deflation.

Japan's central bank law guarantees the BOJ independence in its policy
decisions, but it also requires the bank to communicate with the
government to ensure its policy is in line with the government's
economic policy.

The central bank is likely to debate easing its ultra-loose monetary
policy again at its board meeting on March 16-17, after introducing a
new funding operation in December under a previous wave of government
pressure as the yen climbed versus the dollar. [ID:nTOE6230A7]

One member of the bank's policy board, Miyako Suda, said on Wednesday
that the central bank will maintain a very accommodative monetary
policy stance to help the country escape deflation.

"The BOJ intends to continue making its contribution to help the
Japanese economy escape deflation and return to a sustained growth
path with price stability," Suda said at a roundtable conference
hosted by the Economist Group.

But Suda also repeated the BOJ's view that easy policy alone will not
be a panacea for deflation.

"Although maintaining easy monetary policy is the top priority, it is
important for the Japanese economy to undergo bold structural reform
as much as it needs recovery... If structural reform is delayed, it
would undermine the stimulative effect of monetary policy," she said.

BOJ officials have said further monetary policy easing will have
little impact on boosting prices, with interest rates already near
zero.

Suda added that the BOJ had taken appropriate steps on monetary policy
and that she didn't think aiming for a high inflation rate would
resolve the shock of the financial crisis. (Reporting by Hideyuki
Sano, Stanley White and Rie Ishiguro; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE62900K20100310?type=marketsNews

FOREX-Yen rises on Japan exporters; sterling falters

By Masayuki Kitano TOKYO, March 9 (Reuters) - The yen rose broadly on
Tuesday on
dollar and euro selling by Japanese exporters, while sterling
faltered on weak data and after Moody's said Britain faces a
dilemma over its support for the banking sector. The yen also climbed
with short-term traders taking cues from
a dip in Nikkei share average .N225 and U.S. stock index
futures SPc1, as demand for riskier assets ebbed. "Japanese exporters
are in the market and selling pretty
actively, including the euro against the yen," said Yuji
Matsuura, joint general manager at Aozora Bank's forex and
derivatives trading group. There could be more yen-buying by Japanese
exporters during
the week, and there might also be some flows in the last week of
March, just before they close their books at the end of Japan's
fiscal year, Matsuura said. Market players said, however, that gains
in the yen have been
limited by speculation that the Bank of Japan may take further
steps to ease monetary policy. The euro fell 0.4 percent to 122.59 yen
EURJPY=R, off a
two-week high of 123.90 yen struck on EBS on Monday. The euro also
dropped against the dollar, dipping 0.1 percent
to $1.3615 EUR= but was still well off last week's $1.3433, its
lowest in more than nine months. The euro struggled after Greek Prime
Minister George
Papandreou warned on Monday that if the Greek crisis worsened it
could lead to a new global financial meltdown. [ID:nLDE6271WD].
Sterling fell 0.3 percent to $1.5014 GBP=D4 and shed 0.7
percent to 135.08 yen GBPJPY=R. Data showing that British house prices
grew last month at
their slowest pace since August weighed on sterling.

[ID:nLAG006161] Another negative factor for sterling was a Moody's
Investors
Service report saying Britain faces a difficult balancing act in
deciding how and when to reduce support for the banking sector,
given growth in the UK's public debt burden. [ID:nLDE6271OB]

EYES ON BOJ MEETING The dollar fell 0.3 percent to 90.01 yen JPY=. The
greenback had rallied on the yen to a two-week high of
90.69 yen on EBS on Monday, after a better-than-expected U.S.
jobs report backed views that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lift
rates faster than the Bank of Japan. The report had also bolstered
demand for higher-yielding
currencies and riskier assets like stocks and commodities, on
improved economic prospects. The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent
against the yen
AUDJPY=R and the New Zealand dollar shed 0.6 percent
NZDJPY=R. The dollar is likely to be supported at levels around 89.50
yen on speculation about more monetary easing steps from the BOJ,
possibly at its policy meeting next week, said a trader for a
Japanese trust bank. The BOJ meeting is in the spotlight after the
Nikkei
newspaper reported on Friday that the BOJ was examining easing
again and may decide on such a move when it meets on March 16-17.
Sources familiar with the matter said the BOJ is likely to
debate this month easing its ultra-loose monetary policy again.

[ID:nTOE6230A7] The most likely next step for the BOJ is to expand the
fund-supply operation it put in place in December, under which it
lends to banks at 0.1 percent, either by increasing the size from
10 trillion yen ($110.7 billion) or extending the duration of
loans from the current three months. Even if such steps are taken, the
market impact could be
limited given how low yen money market rates are already, said a
trader for a European bank. "Basically, the aim may be to achieve an
announcement effect
and the market has factored in a lot of that," the trader said,
adding that the dollar could fall against the yen if the BOJ
stands pat and unveils no new measures.

(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney, Satomi Noguchi
and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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US STOCKS-Telecoms lead Wall St rise a year after market bottom
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TREASURIES-Corporate issuance drives rally in U.S. bonds
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FOREX-Yen, dollar dip; euro up as Greece concerns ease
Mar 7, 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6270JL20100308?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r4:c0.250000:b31625032:z0

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE62805G20100309?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r5:c0.125000:b31642806:z0

Analysis: Greece's crisis could presage America's
By TOM RAUM (AP) – 10 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Greece is a financial basket case, begging for
international help. Is America heading down that same road?

Many of the same risky financial practices that now imperil the Greeks
were at the center of the all-too-recent U.S. meltdown.

As with Greece, America's national debt has been growing by leaps and
bounds over the past decade, to the point where it threatens to swamp
overall economic output. And in the U.S., as in Greece, a large
portion of that debt is owed to foreign investors.

Not good, if these debt holders begin to wonder if they'll be paid
back. A foreign flight from U.S. Treasury securities could sow
financial chaos in the United States, as happened when many investors
lost faith in Greek bonds.

It's something that could affect all Americans. The U.S. has never
defaulted on a debt, and even the hint of such a possibility could
send interest rates soaring and choke off a fragile recovery.

How long can the United States remain the world's largest economy as
well as the world's largest debtor?

"Not indefinitely," suggests former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan. "History tells us that great powers when they've gotten
into very significant fiscal problems have ceased to be great powers."

After all, Spain dominated the 16th century world, France the 17th
century and Great Britain much of the 18th and 19th before the United
States rose to supremacy in the 20th century.

"Unless we do things dramatically different, including strengthening
our investments in research and education, the 21st century will
belong to China and India," suggests Norman Augustine, the former CEO
of Lockheed Martin who chaired a 2009 bipartisan commission studying
the nation's top challenges.

The Greek government has taken stiff austerity steps in an effort to
get a lifeline from the European Union, sparking strikes and violent
demonstrations.

Some of the same risky strategies used by U.S. hedge funds and other
professional investors in a failed effort to profit from subprime
mortgages in this country — and which led to the 2008 financial near-
collapse — are now being employed by those betting that Greece will
default on its debt.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who met with President Barack
Obama at the White House on Tuesday, is calling for "decisive and
collective action" here and in Europe to crack down on such rampant
speculation and unregulated bets. He is also seeking more favorable
European interest rates for loans.

Speaking outside the White House, Papandreou welcomed support from
Obama and some European leaders for such efforts and for the austerity
measures taken by his own government. He said it shows the "labor and
sacrifices are not wasted. Of course, our struggle is not ended, it
continues."

Many economists say it's a stretch to compare the U.S. economy, by far
the world's largest, to Greece and other distressed small economies of
southern Europe. They say many of Greece's problems are unique to that
nation and aggravated by a monetary system that rigidly binds 16
nations to the same currency, the euro.

But others argue it may only be a matter of time before the U.S. faces
a similar, and potentially graver, crisis.

"Someday it will happen if we don't get our act together on spending,
our debt under control and our economy to grow faster," said Allen
Sinai, chief global economist for New York-based Decision Economics
Inc., which provides financial advice to corporations and governments.

With signs pointing to a weaker recovery than after other post-World
War II recessions, U.S. consumer spending is likely to remain
unimpressive and the jobless rate high for some time. Sinai said that
suggests there won't be enough growth to push down federal deficits by
much. "It's a political keg of dynamite," he said.

Greece's national debt now equals more than 100 percent of its gross
domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity. U.S. debt
— now $12.5 trillion — is fast closing in on the same dubious
milestone.

Nearly all of Greek's debt is held by foreign governments and
investors. In the United States, roughly half is owned by global
investors, with China holding the largest stake.

By contrast, Japan's debt is proportionately even bigger — about twice
its GDP — but the impact is cushioned by the fact that most is held by
Japanese households.

"The more open you are to the rest of the world, the more likely
you're going to have a problem if you start running large deficits and
large debt loads," said Mark Zandi, founder of Moody's Economy.com,
and a frequent adviser to lawmakers of both parties.

Zandi does not see any major fallout from the Greek fiscal crisis in
the United States for now, other than a possible temporary hit on
potential European export markets.

However, he said, "global investors at some point are going to start
demanding a higher interest rate. And that's our moment of truth. If
we don't address it by cutting spending and raising taxes, some
combination of the two, then we're going to have a problem."

Polls show growing public anger over deficits and government spending.
The issue is a potent one for the upcoming midterm elections, and a
particular liability for majority-party Democrats.

Calls have sounded from both sides of the political aisle for deficit
reduction. And Obama last month set up a bipartisan deficit commission
to find ways to get the country's budget deficit, now adding more than
$1 trillion a year to the national debt, under control.

But the panel is a weak substitute for what Obama really wanted — a
commission created by Congress that could force lawmakers to vote on
remedies to reduce the debt.

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Tom Raum covers economics and politics for The
Associated Press.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou walks away after talking to the
media in front of the West Wing of the White House in Washington,
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, following a meeting with President Barack
Obama. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i8fvUrHUOkJVfaq5UBxHCYV85s3wD9EBDPRO2

Fears of a Greek bank run
By Dody Tsiantar, contributorMarch 9, 2010: 3:33 PM ET

(Fortune) -- In the middle of the 2001 debt crisis, Argentines stormed
their nation's banks to get their money out. To stop the stampede, the
government imposed controls that allowed them to take out only $250 at
a time and limited withdrawals for overseas trips to $1,000.

Greece, in the middle of its own financial crisis, is teetering on the
brink of a default. Many of its wealthier citizens are also uneasy
about what lies ahead for their cash. According to estimates from
private bankers in Greece and Cyprus, as much as 10 billion euros have
left the country for Greek-owned bank subsidiaries in Switzerland and
Cyprus in the last couple of months.

Facebook Digg Twitter Buzz Up! Email Print Comment on this story

"Customers are coming...from Greece on a daily basis," says one
private banker who works for a Greek bank in Cyprus. "They fly here in
the morning, bring us a check and fly back to Athens in the
afternoon."

One banker in Athens reports that many of his clients have sent funds
out of the country in recent weeks, fearing that the government will
take a bigger bite of their money. "They're afraid they'll have to pay
tax on their cash," he says.

Countries in economic turmoil historically look for unpopular ways to
raise revenue, according to economists. So when things start to go
sour, "everyone becomes convinced that the stage is being set for
higher taxes," says former IMF economist Dev Kar, the lead economist
for Global Financial Integrity, an international policy research
center. "People with wealth then ship their money out, so government
does not come and get it when it all comes crashing down."

But growing concerns that Greece's financial crisis will spill over to
its banking system appear to be driving most of the outflow. The fear
isn't totally unfounded: Late last month, Fitch Ratings downgraded the
country's four major private-sector banks to two notches above junk
status on fears that demand for loans may plunge, denting their
potential profitability .

"I'm scared," says one 40-year-old Athenian woman, who's considering
taking her nest egg to Cyprus. "I want to take my money out of the
country before the banks run out of cash."

Not as bad as it seems

A run on the bank, a la Argentina, is not imminent, say banking and
government officials. They acknowledge that money is leaving the
country, but say that reports of massive capital outflows are "grossly
overstated."

"There is a trickle, but nothing like a real flight that would put the
system under pressure," says Anthimos Thomopoulos, chief financial
officer of the National Bank of Greece, which holds a third of
Greece's 250 billion euro total deposit pool.

The situation isn't overly worrisome right now, bank and government
officials say, because most of the money has flowed to those Greek-
owned banks abroad and should, in theory, be easier to repatriate.
What's happening, says Nikolaos Karamouzis, deputy CEO of Eurobank
EFG, a private bank in Greece with 84 billion euro in assets, is "not
materially significant, despite the fact that there is widespread
concern among our clients."

Exactly how much cash has left the country since the crisis exploded
in mid-December is hard to determine, however. According to the most
recent quarterly statistics available, the national deposit pool at
the end of December dropped by less than a half a percent. But
analysts point out those numbers do not reflect the full impact of the
crisis, which picked up momentum in January and February after the
government announced its belt-tightening measures.

A pesos to drachmas comparison

Unlike Greece today, Argentina's government had an arsenal of
financial tools in 2001 to deal with its crisis. It devalued the peso
and imposed capital controls. But as a member of the European Union,
Greece does not have those options; it can't devalue, and because the
Union has rules that call for a free movement of capital within its
boundaries, it can't stop citizens or businesses from moving cash from
one partner country to another.

"The only way Greece could impose capital controls would be to leave
the EU," says Michael Melvin, head of currency and fixed income
research at global asset management firm BlackRock. "And there's close
to zero probability of that."

A return to the drachma isn't likely any time soon either, but Greek
citizens do have good reason to believe that taxes are going to go up.
The socialist government of Prime Minister George Papandreou has
already announced a slew of tax hikes, including increases in the
value-added tax, new excise taxes on luxury goods, such as yachts and
cars, and up to a 20% tax on cigarettes, alcohol and fuel.

0:00 /1:24Greece: Another crisis looms

In addition, a key tenet of the socialist government's plan is to go
after tax cheats aggressively -- economists figure that nearly 30% of
the country's gross domestic product goes unreported to authorities.
For decades, Greece's shadow economy has thrived because many Greeks
-- doctors, plumbers, electricians and lawyers among them -- conduct
business entirely in cash. Much of that money has ended up in bank
accounts in other countries, say economists -- and a lot of it is not
reflected in national statistics.

"The outflow of cash from Greece is not a new phenomenon. If you could
calculate the outflow of the last 50 years, you'd get an astronomical
figure," says University of Maryland economics professor Theodore
Kariotis. "Greeks are a very sneaky people."

The government's new rules intend to change that. Last week it
announced new measures to encourage those who have transferred money
out of Greece to bring it back within six months, no questions asked.
They'll be taxed 5% on the total, however. Another option offered:
declare the money, leave it in foreign accounts -- and be subject to
an 8% tax. After that, foreign governments will cooperate with Greek
tax authorities to pursue lawbreakers, says a source in the finance
ministry.

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou hopes the government's
new measures will produce results. "As the reform program unfolds, a
lot of this lost, or quasi-lost, liquidity will come back to the
system," he said in a mid-January interview. "It is an immediate
concern, of course, but it is reversible."

Maybe it is, but according to economists, money that leaves a country
rarely returns. "I'm not holding my breath," says Global Financial
Integrity's Kar. "Once [cash] leaves, it's hard to get it back."

The snag in Greece's salary solution
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/04/news/international/greece_pay.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010030403

Is your country the next Greece?
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/08/news/international/next_greece.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010030815

Greeks try to remember how to cut back
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/26/news/international/greece_debt_crisis.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010030109

http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/09/news/international/greece_money.fortune/?section=magazines_fortune

Tax hikes may still fail to fix Athen's debts crisis
Wednesday March 10 2010

GREEK tax increases, which have sparked widespread protests, may fail
to generate as much additional revenue as the government in Athens
estimates, a draft EU report says.

While the €4.8bn of additional austerity measures enacted by the Greek
parliament last week "appear sufficient to safeguard the 2010
budgetary targets", risks remain that increases in value-added tax and
fuel taxes may generate less than is projected, the report says.

The Greek government plans to cut the deficit to 8.7pc of gross
domestic product (GDP) this year from 12.7pc in 2009. The draft report
will be discussed by EU finance ministers in Brussels next week.

Demand

An increase in the main VAT rate by 2pc from 19pc will bring in €1.3bn
in added revenue this year, while higher excise duties on petrol and
diesel are expected to generate €450m more, according to the finance
ministry in Athens.

But "the implications on tax revenue of a contraction in demand should
not be underestimated", according to the European Commission.

On VAT, it said "changes in the tax base -- in relation to the
contraction of internal demand -- and tax evasion may result to lower-
than-expected gains".

Greece's overall government debt "remains on a steep upward path",
according to the commission. Greek debt is projected to swell to 125pc
of GDP this year, the highest in the 27-nation EU, it forecasts.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday
that the latest measures put Greece on "the path of fiscal adjustment
for 2012" -- the deadline to meet the EU's 3pc deficit limit.
(Bloomberg)

Irish Independent

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/tax-hikes-may-still-fail-to-fix-athens-debts-crisis-2093413.html

S&P expert: Integrated eurozone fiscal policy key to sovereign debt
crisis

English.news.cn 2010-03-09 18:32:11

by Xinhua writer Wang Zongkai

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Integrated fiscal policy was essential
for the euro zone to get out of the consequences of Greek sovereign
debt crisis, according to an expert from Standard and Poor's (S&P).

"The Greek debt crisis can be the strongest challenge that the euro
zone has faced in the past 11 years, and the key to solve the problem
is whether eurozone-16 can sacrifice some of their fiscal
sovereignty," said David Beers, managing director of S&P sovereign and
international public finance ratings group, on Monday.

On Dec. 8, 2009, Fitch Ratings downgraded its rating on Greece
sovereign credit from A- to BBB+, and revised its outlook to negative,
which signaled the commence of Greece sovereign credit crisis.

Moreover, other eurozone members, including Portugal, Ireland, Italy
and Spain, also reported deficit problem recently. In a context of
weak recovery in European economies, some analysts said that the Greek
debt crisis might contaminate the whole Europe.

However, Beers believes that the Greek debt crisis will not cause a
new round of global crisis.

On the one hand, other eurozone members welcomed Greece's 4.8-billion-
euro (6.53-billion-U.S. dollar) austerity package, which has shown the
Greek government's willingness to submit some fiscal sovereignty to
the union for underpinning euros, he said.

On the other hand, the creditworthiness of all eurozone sovereign
states was currently at least adequate to meet their financial
commitments, and S&P did not assume any sovereign state leaving the
euro zone in the medium term, Beers added.

So far, the Greek debt crisis had been contained within the euro zone.
Meanwhile, the Greek government had actively taken measures, while the
euro zone was considering institutional reform such as the
establishment of a European Monetary Fund, which will function like
the International Monetary Fund.

Regarding Britain's estimates of its deficit in 2010 fiscal year to
amount 1.78 trillion pounds (2.67 trillion dollars), nearly 13 percent
of its gross domestic product, Beers said Britain's current fiscal
policy is sustainable.

"If party in office changed, S&P would keep a close look at deficit-
cutting measures of the new administration," he added.

Meanwhile, the other two largest economies in the world are also
facing the deficit problem. U.S. federal deficit in 2009 had amounted
to 1.41 trillion dollars, almost 10 percent of the GDP while Japan's
outstanding public debt reached a record high of 817.5 trillion yen (9
trillion dollars), and 6.83 million yen (7,560 dollars) per capita.

Nevertheless, Beers was more optimistic on U.S. and Japan thanks to
more flexibility and time in dealing with debt problem given that the
dollar and the yen are the two strongest reserve currencies right now.

Beers estimated that it would take one or two years to solve the Greek
debt crisis.

People in Greece and other eurozone countries need to have confidence
while their governments need action.

Editor: Xiong Tong

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High Conviction: Short the Yen
by: Alexander Tepper March 10, 2010

Alexander Tepper is Chief Economist at TKNG Capital, a global macro
hedge fund based in New York. Previously, Mr. Tepper was a senior
economic policy aide to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg. He also has
experience at Oliver, Wyman & Company advising Fortune 500 financial
institutions on risk management and as an investment banking Associate
at Credit Suisse. He has a masters degree in Economics from Oxford
University, and a BA in Physics from Princeton University.

We recently had the opportunity to ask Alexander about the single
highest conviction position he currently holds in his fund.

What is your highest conviction position in your fund right now - long
or short?

We are short Japanese yen against the US Dollar. We have implemented
the trade by selling out-of-the-money calls to buy out-of-the-money
puts and taking in premium.

Why did you use options to structure the trade?

Call options on the yen are significantly more expensive than put
options. This "skew," as it's known, exists because the Japanese
investment community tends to be short yen, making it susceptible to
sharp rises during bouts of risk aversion.

Investors hedge this exposure by buying out-of-the-money yen calls.
But given the sharp adjustment that has already occurred in the crisis
and a government whose proclivities are far from fiscally
conservative, we view the risks as less asymmetric than implied by the
skew.

Structuring this trade with options is akin to playing with dice
loaded in our favor.

Tell us a bit about Japan right now, and why you're short its
currency.

Japan has traditionally been an export-oriented economy, but that's
going to change as the population continues to age and retire. These
older citizens, who have saved their whole lives and are no longer
producing anything, will be a natural source of demand, first for
domestic Japanese goods and then for imports. A shrinking labor force
will mean other nations will need to pick up the slack in production.
Already, the savings rate in Japan has fallen into the low single-
digits and it should fall further.

Japan is also in serious fiscal trouble. Its net debt is more than
100% of GDP, and gross debt is nearing 200% of GDP. The Japanese
government and central bank do not seem particularly concerned. It is
only Japan's strong balance of payments position, and a willful
suspension of disbelief by the markets, that differentiates it from
countries like Greece. But those, too, should ebb over time.

So why will the yen fall?

First, as the Japanese retire, the supply shock to the economy will
result in continuing declines in competitiveness. The yen will need to
fall to restore balance.

Second, less income and more retirees will mean that Japan will need
to fund more of its government's borrowing from abroad. Making this
attractive will mean a lower exchange rate, higher interest rate, or
(most likely) both.

Third, the government's fiscal position is the worst in the developed
world. The scale of the adjustments that are necessary to stabilize
the budget deficit would be unprecedented in a large developed nation,
requiring deep cuts to pensions, double-digit tax increases, and
severe spending restraint elsewhere. If sovereign worries persist,
Japan and its currency are obvious targets for speculators.

Finally, we think consumers in the US and UK are undergoing a lasting
shift in psychology that will cause them to save a larger share of
their incomes going forward. Over the long-term, the savings rate
needs to average around 10% in order for Americans to secure a
reasonable retirement. When Americans save more, they buy less,
especially imports. This lack of demand for imports means a stronger
dollar against US trading partners like Japan.

All this is on the assumption that the global economy will limp along
for a while. But if instead we have a return to robust growth that
looks broadly like the pre-crisis economy, the yen should weaken
towards 2007 levels as markets become more and more comfortable with
risk and interest rates rise in the rest of the developed world.

There are a lot of ways to win with this trade.

What would you say the current broad sentiment is on the yen?

The market has tended to view the yen as part of the "risk-on/risk-
off" trade, where the yen rises with worries about the global economy.
Japan's fiscal issues are well-known, but the market has generally not
priced them, with yields on 10-year Japanese bonds below 1.5%.
Japanese CDS spreads, however, have doubled since late summer.

More broadly, the markets have believed that correction of global
imbalances requires a weaker dollar to encourage Americans and Asians
to change their consumption behavior. We think the financial crisis
and experience of house price declines will be the driving force that
restrains Americans' profligacy, while Asians will consume more. The
result will be a stronger dollar.

Does Japanese economic policy play a role in your position?

The Japanese government has made fairly clear that it does not intend
to tolerate a markedly stronger yen because it hurts their exporters.
It also seems neither inclined nor able to do anything about the
fiscal situation in the near future.

What catalysts do you see that could move the currency, and the trade
in your favor?

The eurozone's sovereign risk worries will soon resolve themselves one
way or another. When they do, Japan could easily become a target.

As economic data continue to strengthen over the next few months, a
return to normalcy will mean a weaker yen.

We are also prepared for a more gradual adjustment as markets adopt
our demographic view.

What could go wrong with this trade?

In the near term, Japanese companies repatriating income around the
fiscal year-end in March could potentially lead to a rise in the
currency. A sharp rise in risk aversion could have a similar effect.
We have been careful to choose the strike prices on our options to
minimize the damage if such a spike does occur.

Beyond that, deflation in Japan means that in a perfect economic
world, the yen would appreciate over time. There is also the risk that
the pundits over the past several years prove right and we see
fundamental weakening of the dollar with respect to all Asian
currencies.

Finally, if China were to revalue its currency, as many believe it
will, that could create space for the Japanese authorities also to
allow some appreciation. Again, however, we believe our options are
sufficiently out of the money to limit our downside in such a
scenario.

Thanks, Alexander.

Disclosure: TKNG Capital is short the Yen against the Dollar.

If you are a fund manager and interested in doing an interview with us
on your highest conviction stock holding, please email Rebecca
Barnett.
About the author: Alexander Tepper Alexander Tepper is Chief
Economist at TKNG Capital, a global macro hedge fund based in New
York. Previously, Mr. Tepper was a senior economic policy aide to U.S.
Senator Frank Lautenberg. He also has experience at Oliver, Wyman &
Company advising Fortune 500 financial institutions on risk... More

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• Why the Eurozone Is Heading for a Double Dip

http://seekingalpha.com/article/192898-why-the-eurozone-is-heading-for-a-double-dip?source=article_lb_author

• Indian Markets Wednesday Wrap-Up: Another Lackluster
http://seekingalpha.com/article/192897-indian-markets-wednesday-wrap-up-another-lackluster-day?source=article_lb_author

The Coolpix L11 is clearly designed more for the frugal than the
fancy. The 6-megapixel camera sports a 37.5mm-to-112.5mm-equi... 3x
zoom lens and a relatively small 2.4-inch LCD screen. While its
hardware hardly impresses, however, the camera offers some
surprisingly useful features. The L11 includes Nikon's In-Camera Red-
Eye Fix and Face-Priority AF. In-Camera Red-Eye Fix supplements the
camera's red-eye reduction flash mode with a processing system that
removes red-eye after the photo is taken. Face-Priority AF detects and
tracks faces in photos, and adjusts focus to stay on those faces,
instead of just the closest subject. Both features come standard on
most Nikon Coolpix cameras, but are still handy for casual shooting.
www-nikon.com Mar 10 0

Carlos Lam is a deputy prosecuting attorney in a mid-sized county in a
midwestern state. An adherent in the Austrian School of economics, he
believes that to truly prosper as the republic envisioned by the
Founding Fathers, we must return to principles of sound money and
limited government. He... More Latest StockTalkWent long Canadian Oil
Sands Trust (COSWF.PK) as a way to hedge oil/gasoline price increases
& to diversify away from the USDSep 11, 2009Latest articles &
Instablog posts1.'Cash for Clunkers' Incentivizes Americans to Take On
More Debt2."Cash for Clunkers" Passes House: The Debt Merchants
Continue Their Efforts3.Will the Chrysler Deal Be Delayed?

Shorting the Yen could be an interesting play. Already the Japanese
savings rate has crashed from its lofty position to under 4%, so the
Japanese government will not be able to count on domestic savings to
finance its debt indefinitely.
Mar 10 06:25 AM

John Thomas graduated with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry with
honors and a minor in mathematics from the University of California at
Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) in 1974. He moved to Tokyo, Japan where he was
employed by a medium-sized Japanese securities house. Thomas became
fluent in... More Company: The Mad Hedge Fund Trader bvgf I'm hearing
from my buddies in Japan that while things are already quite bad in
that enchanting country, they are about to get a whole lot worse, and
that it is time to start scaling into a major short in the yen.
Australia and China have already raised interest rates, to be followed
by the US, and eventually Europe. With its economy enfeebled, the
prospects of Japan raising rates substantially is close to nil,
meaning the yield spread between the yen and other currencies is about
to widen big time. That will generate hundreds of billions of dollars
worth of yen selling as hedge funds rush to pile on a giant carry
trade. Until now, the government has been able to finance ballooning
budget deficits caused by two lost decades, but those days are coming
to an end. Japan is quite literally running out of savers. The savings
rate has dropped from 20% during my time there, to a spendthrift 3%,
because real falling standards of living leave a lot less money for
the piggy bank. The national debt has rocketed to 190% of GDP, and
100% when you net out government agencies buying each other's
securities. Japan has the world's worst demographic outlook. Unfunded
pension liabilities are exploding. Other than once great cars and
video games, what does Japan really have to offer the world these
days, but a carry currency? Until now, the government has been able to
cover up these problems with tatami mats, because almost all of the
debt it issued has been sold to domestic institutions. Now that this
pool is drying up, there is nowhere else to go but foreign investors.
With Greece and the rest of the PIIGS at the forefront, and awareness
of sovereign risks heightening, this is going to be a much more
discerning lot to deal with. You could dip your toe in the water here
around ¥88.40. In a perfect world you could sell it as it double tops
at the 85 level. My initial downside target is ¥105, and after that
¥120. If you're not set up to trade in the futures or the interbank
market like the big hedge funds, then take a look at the leveraged
short yen ETF, the (YCS). This is a home run if you can get in at the
right price.
Mar 10

http://seekingalpha.com/article/192864-high-conviction-short-the-yen

Fresh Trade Winds?
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 02:19
0 Comments and 4 Reactions
Investor's Business Daily
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily
Editorial

http://epaper.investors.com

Economy: U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk came out swinging
Wednesday, warning Congress that it's time to pass free trade. Is
something happening here? Is the Obama administration finally getting
serious about jobs?

After a year of inaction, Kirk told Democrats in remarks to the Senate
Finance Committee that passage of free-trade pacts must be "a
priority."

Free trade "will stimulate export-driven growth and help the United
States meet the president's goal to double U.S. exports in five
years," he said, adding that 2 million jobs would be created.

That kind of talk from a leading Democrat directed at the
protectionists in his own party is a new — and welcome — development.

Over the last year, Obama administration officials have occasionally
talked up the benefits of free trade, but only with conservatives and
business groups, who already know about it.

Now some are spending political capital to push it.

Confronting a Congress that is holding up the creation of jobs doesn't
come a moment too soon. U.S. joblessness stands at 9.7% and Europe is
grabbing U.S. markets abroad.

Congressional protectionists talk of free trade passage in terms of
years; their campaign financiers in Big Labor, such as the AFL-CIO,
say "never."

Kirk rebuked that stance in his speech, telling labor it had a voice
but "not a veto" on trade and hinted that President Obama would put
the pacts through without them. He also gave labor leaders a deadline
to make demands on free-trade deals like the one with Colombia instead
of constantly moving the goal posts.

One shot.

It doesn't come a moment too soon. Congress' failure to enact the free-
trade pacts in front of them is costing the U.S. nearly 600,000 jobs,
according to a 2009 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Contrary to
protectionist myth, free trade costs no net jobs in the U.S. economy
at all, as Fed chief Ben Bernanke noted in a 2007 speech citing years
of data. "Trade allows us to enjoy both a more productive economy and
higher living standards," he said. Unemployment is killing the U.S.
economy and sinking the Obama presidency. Time is running out to open
markets that could help repair it. Just this week, Europe signed a
free-trade deal with Colombia and Peru and breezily announced it would
have a pact with fast-growing India ready by October.

U.S. international credibility right now is zero, given that
alreadynegotiated trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea
have languished in Congress for more than three years.

Who'd want to negotiate something new and have it put in congressional
limbo? That's why the Obama administration's proposed U.S. Trans-
Pacific Partnership to open new markets in Brunei, Australia, New
Zealand and Vietnam is going nowhere.

"This delay in implementing hurts U.S. credibility around the world —
not just economically, but geopolitically as well," said Sen. Charles
Grassley, R-Iowa, at the Kirk hearing. Hello? Anyone out there? The
U.S. is losing ground in world markets and doing it at the cost of our
own citizens' jobs. It's exactly what U.S. labor unions such as the
Teamsters, United Steelworkers, United Autoworkers and various public
employee unions want.

And right now, like it or not, they rule Congress. It's ironic,
because many lobbyists believe free trade can pass both congressional
Houses if the bills are put to a vote. Past presidents, including
Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush, knew that's what
it took to get pacts through Congress. Both threw their all into
getting big treaties — like 1993's North American Free Trade Agreement
and 2005's Central American Free Trade Agreement — passed in Congress,
acts that took on people who would stop them to charge up the U.S.
economy. There's still no sign of Obama out there working the Hill.
But Kirk's statements, no doubt authorized by the president, may be
the beginning of a turnaround on trade.

http://epaper.investors.com/Olive/ODE/IBD/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=SUJELzIwMTAvMDMvMDU.&pageno=MTA.&entity=QXIwMTAwNA..&view=ZW50aXR5

http://www.truthabouttrade.org/news/latest-news/15680-fresh-trade-winds

A new finger on the pulse of economy

A new index co-developed by Ceridian uses diesel fuel sales to track
U.S. economic growth.

By NEAL ST. ANTHONY, Star Tribune
Last update: March 9, 2010 - 9:03 PM

Want to know which way the economy is headed? Find out how much diesel
fuel is being burned by the nation's over-the-road truckers.

That's the theory behind a new economic index developed by Bloomington-
based Ceridian Corp., a provider of electronic payments services, and
UCLA's Anderson School of Management.

Called the Pulse of Commerce Index, the survey, to be released
Wednesday, shows the U.S. economy was essentially flat over the first
two months of the year, with a snowbound February decline of 0.7
percent in output offsetting the modest January gain of 0.6 percent.

"February was disappointing, but the geographic pattern underlying the
index suggests this was due in large part to extreme snowfalls during
the month," said Edward Leamer, director of UCLA's Anderson Forecast
and chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index
(PCI). "We still need much stronger growth in the PCI to get Americans
back to work. To sustain at least a 4 percent GDP number for the first
quarter [on an annualized basis], the March PCI has to be ... over 1
percent growth. That number will be very important."

The new index is designed to get the jump on the Federal Reserve's
report on industrial production report for February, which comes out
next week.

The PCI uses real-time diesel fuel consumption data from over-the-road
truckers, which is tracked by Ceridian, a longtime payment services
provider to the trucking industry. The index is built by analyzing
Ceridian's electronic card payment data, which captures the location
and volume of diesel fuel being purchased. This provides a detailed
picture of the movement of products across the United States.

In an interview Tuesday, Leamer said that once the bad weather is
taken into account, February's numbers suggest that there is an
underlying power to industrial demand and he expects that a catch-up
surge in goods moved in March will indicate that the economy is
growing at about a 3 percent annualized rate during the first quarter.

"To be optimistic about jobs, we'll need at least that," Leamer said.
"In the fourth quarter, we had 5.9 percent growth, but 3.9 percent was
just inventory replacement. That leaves 2 percent. We need more than
that. And March will tell the quarter."

Leamer said the Ceridian diesel-consumption data, collected from about
7,000 service stations around the country, constitutes a
representative sample and provides a "real data, not surveys" about
the movement of goods, which is a manifestation of industrial
production and shipments.

The flow of commerce

"We're monitoring the flow of commerce at truck stops, and the
arteries for the commercial system are the interstate highways
carrying the products," he said. "It amplifies the swings in GDP and
also tells us early where the economy is going."

Industrial production only accounts for about one-third of the U.S.
economy. It is more volatile than the service sector, which fluctuates
less during economic cycles.

All economic eyes are on month-to-month changes in industrial output,
which is a guide to business spending, credit expansion and demand for
goods in the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession that has given way to
a fairly tepid economic recovery. Most labor economists believe that
the economy won't start adding jobs significantly unless industrial
output starts growing at a 3 to 5 percent annualized clip.

Back testing of the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index indicates
that it is a reliable indicator of industrial output. For example, the
index rose in areas unaffected by February's snows, including 2.7
percent in the Upper Midwest and 2.1 percent in the Pacific region.

"Goods have to be transported for the economy to grow, so when
snowstorms bog down that flow, it is reflected in our index and in the
overall U.S. economy," said Craig Manson, senior vice president and
index analyst for Ceridian.

A new finger on the pulse of economy...
Wait! The economy has a pulse?

posted by DrZoidberg on Mar 9, 10 at 11:55 pm |

http://www.startribune.com/business/87180717.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Posted: Wed, Mar 10 2010. 9:00 AM IST
International News

US, Europe eye free-trade pacts with rising Asia

The talks will follow the launch of negotiations on a free-trade
agreement between Singapore and the European Union, which is also keen
on expanding trade ties with Southeast Asia
AFP

Singapore: The United States, fearful of being sidelined as China and
other fast-growing Asian economies speed up their integration, is
banking on a new trade pact to shore up its Pacific influence.

Talks opening Monday in Melbourne will focus on a proposed Trans-
Pacific Partnership agreement linking the US market with Australia,
Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Officials hope the TPP will form the nucleus of a wider Asia-Pacific
trade zone that would eventually rope in China, Japan and South Korea
as well as key Southeast Asian nations.

The talks will follow the launch of negotiations on a free-trade
agreement between Singapore and the European Union, which is also keen
on expanding trade ties with Southeast Asia.

The United States and Europe have been shut out of a growing web of
Asia-centric trade pacts spurred by the region's 1997 financial crisis
and by a lack of progress in the Doha round of global trade talks,
analysts said.

While the United States is "unquestionably" a Pacific power, it "lacks
a comprehensive Asia strategy", said Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia
expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in
Washington.

"The lack of consistent US focus in the region has enabled the
ascendance of Chinese power," Bower said, adding that it could slowly
undermine US business interests and eventually degrade US security
capabilities.

The new trade attention from the West comes as Asian countries lead
the rest of the world in recovering from the global economic downturn.

"That the US and the EU are knocking on Asia's doors is a recognition
that the centre of economic power is shifting, or has shifted, to our
region," an Asian diplomat closely involved in trade issues told AFP.

"They know very well that ignoring Asia will be at their own peril.
China is already a major trade partner for many Asian countries and is
leading efforts toward regional economic integration," he said on
condition of anonymity.

Deputy US trade representative Demetrios Marantis warned that
Washington "faces the daunting prospect of getting locked out" by Asia-
specific trade pacts.

A study by the US-based Peterson Institute for International Economics
showed that discriminatory policies under an East Asia free trade zone
could cost the US economy at least 25 billion dollars of annual
exports and lead to the loss of "about 200,000 high-paying jobs".

The United States has free-trade accords with Australia and Singapore
and has also negotiated a trade pact with South Korea, but this has
yet to be implemented due to fierce disputes over cars and beef.

China has been more aggressive in wooing regional partners.

An agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) covering nearly two billion consumers went into effect
this year, creating the world's biggest free-trade area in terms of
population.

There are also efforts to form a larger, all-Asian free-trade zone
spanning China, Japan, South Korea and the 10 ASEAN states.

C. Fred Bergsten and Jeffrey Schott of the Peterson Institute hailed
Washington's decision to join the trans-Pacific talks in Australia.

"Deepening US engagement with countries in the Asia-Pacific region is
crucial for the advancement of both US economic and foreign policy
interests," Bergsten and Schott said in a recent paper.

"Within the next few years, it is likely that the East Asian countries
will deepen their economic ties and conclude both a regional trade
agreement and a monetary agreement," the authors said.

Such a bloc would "draw a line" in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by
discriminating against US exporters and investors, and excluding the
United States from major regional economic and security forums, they
said.

Marantis acknowledged that overcoming crisis-hit Americans' opposition
to free-trade agreements is a key challenge.

Surveys suggest that only about one in 10 Americans think that trade
pacts create jobs, while more than half believe the accords lead to
job losses at home, he said.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/10090029/US-Europe-eye-freetrade-pact.html

...and I am Sid Harth

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/fbe56c67d373c696/31b16b774a16ac15

== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 10:20 am
From: Sid Harth

National Magazine | Aug 20, 2007

Irfan Hussain

Scandals

Sixty Years On, More Sinned Against...

The great political scams of the last 60 years reflect their times,
but also fit a timeless definition of corruption: abuse of public
power for private gain. A trip down murky memory lane.
Smita Gupta

Special Issue: India At 60

The great political scams of the last 60 years reflect their times,
but also fit a timeless definition of corruption: abuse of public
power for private gain. They rolled out decade after decade—the
Mundhra scandal, the Kairon embarrassment, the mysterious Nagarwala
case; in the 1980s, big defence scams kept pace with India's growing
defence needs. In the 1990s, as the economy liberalised, stockmarket
and hawala scams erupted. Ironically, while political reputations were
ruined and a government was brought down—in 1989, on the Bofors issue—
very few allegations have ever been proved. The recent scandals, like
the Taj Corridor case involving Mayawati, and the Telgi fake stamp
paper scam, are still fresh in the public mind. Here, we take you on a
trip down murky memory lane.
***

The Mundhra Scandal

The timing was disastrous. Less than a year after the government
nationalised life insurance in 1956—on the grounds that it was not
being managed well—the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) produced
independent India's first scam. Pressured by the Union finance
ministry, LIC bypassed its investment committee and purchased shares
worth Rs 124 lakh in six—mainly dud—companies belonging to Calcutta
industrialist Haridas Mundhra. Feroze Gandhi, Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru's son-in-law, dramatically disclosed the deal in
1958, leading to a nationwide furore, and an investigation. The guilty
were punished, and Union finance minister T.T. Krishnamachari had to
resign.

Kairon and Sons

For independent India, this was a first-of-a-kind scandal. Later, of
course, it was to become almost a cliche in political life: a chief
minister accused of aggrandising himself and his family at public
expense. The S.R. Das Commission, tasked to investigate these charges
against Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon, exonerated him in
1964, saying a father could not be held legally responsible for the
actions of his grown-up children. But a caveat—that a chief minister
could not escape moral responsibility for his children's' actions—was
indictment enough. Kairon quit.

"Man from Bangladesh"

The case, straight out of a political thriller, captured public
imagination and continues to raise unanswered questions. On May 24,
1971, former intelligence agent R.S. Nagarwala, posing as a "man from
Bangladesh", withdrew Rs 60 lakh from the Parliament Street branch of
New Delhi's State Bank of India, following a purported call from then
prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to the chief cashier.
Nagarwala had apparently "mimicked" Indira Gandhi's voice. In the
course of the probe that followed, investigating officer D.K. Kashyap
was killed in a mysterious car accident and Nagarwala died in prison.
The Janata Party, alleging that the money belonged to Indira Gandhi,
set up the Jaganmohan Reddy commission in 1977, but found insufficient
evidence to indict her.

"Rajiv Gandhi chor hai"

"Gali gali mein shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai!" As the scandal over
the Bofors gun deal became a symbol of corruption in high office, this
slogan was heard across the country. The alleged kickback involved was
Rs 60 crore, small change as such scandals go, but it helped V.P.
Singh's National Front trounce Rajiv's Congress in 1989. Since then,
the Delhi High Court has acquitted Rajiv Gandhi and the Hinduja
brothers. 'Middleman' Ottavio Quattrocchi's name has not yet been
cleared, but investigators have not come up with anything conclusive
either. Yet, 18 years later, the ghost of Bofors continues to haunt a
forever tainted Congress—and Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Sonia.

St Kitts Forgery Scandal

Chandraswami, a godman with greasy locks and mighty political
connections, was the central figure in the 1989 tit-for-tat "scam"
intended to tarnish V. P. Singh. He, along with then external affairs
minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, and another minister, K.K. Tewary,
reportedly organised forged documents to show that VP's son Ajeya
Singh had deposited $21 million in the First Trust Corporation Bank in
the Caribbean island of St Kitts, with his father as beneficiary.
After Rao's term as PM ended in 1996, the CBI formally charged him for
the crime. But later, the court acquitted Rao for lack of evidence.
All the other accused were also eventually let off. However, the scam
punctured Chandraswami's colourful career. Politicians kept clear of
him from then on.

Sukh Ram Telecom Scam

He came to be known by the epithet, minister of tele-'phony'. In 2002,
a CBI special court sentenced former Union communications minister
Sukh Ram to three years RI, and fined him Rs 1 lakh for purchasing
poor quality radio system equipment from a company in 1991, causing
the public exchequer to suffer losses totalling Rs 1.68 crore. The
buzz was that Sukh Ram, under whose bed dhobi bundles of cash were
found, was involved in several other deals, but nothing was proved. A
senior telecom official, Runu Ghosh, and Hyderabad-based businessman
Pataru Rama Rao, were also sentenced to two and three years
imprisonment respectively. A tortuous legal battle continues.

Stockmarket Scam, 1992

He was toasted and celebrated by investors and the media alike. But
like the stockmarket, he too crashed, leading to one of the biggest
financial scandals in independent India. 'Big Bull' Harshad Mehta,
held to be largely responsible for the stockmarket crash of '92, was
arrested by the CBI in November that year for "misappropriating" more
than 27 lakh shares—worth Rs 250 crore—of about 90 companies,
including Sensex heavyweights like ACC and Hindalco, through forged
share transfer forms. Blacklisted in the stockmarket, he reportedly
caused a loss of more than Rs 4,000 crore to various entities and
eventually died in custody in December 2001, before all the legal
issues were sorted out. The stock scam reverberated through the
country, with several people committing suicide after losing their
life savings and going bankrupt overnight.

PV in a Pickle

Close on the heels of the stock scam came Harshad Mehta's sensational
allegation that he had paid Rs 1 crore in cash to the personal
secretary of then prime minister Narasimha Rao. He even displayed a
suitcase, offering a symbol for venality, but the allegation was never
proved. Rao was also embarrassed by the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating
scandal. Pickle king Pathak, a UK-based Indian businessman, alleged
that he had paid Chandraswami and his associate K.N. Aggarwal alias
Mamaji (who were close to Rao) $100,000 in return for a paper pulp
supply contract in India, a "promise" that was not kept. Rao and
Chandraswami were acquitted of the charges in 2003 due to lack of
evidence. Despite this, the case remained a blot on Rao.

Jain Hawala Scam

Some of the country's leading politicians were implicated in the Rs 64-
crore hawala scandal, involving payments allegedly received by
politicians through the Jain brothers, who were hawala brokers. The
media went into overdrive over a diary, which apparently contained the
names of top politicians. These included the BJP's L.K. Advani and
Congressmen Balram Jakhar, Madhavrao Scindia and Arjun Singh. However,
they were all cleared. Advani was let off in 1997, while Jakhar and
the Jain brothers were also let off in 1999 for want of credible
evidence. The CBI was severely criticised for its inefficient
investigation of the scandal.

Fodder Scam

In 1996, Bihar CM Laloo Prasad Yadav became the focus of the Rs 950-
crore fodder scam in the state's animal husbandry department,
notorious for financial irregularities involving powerful politicians
(across parties) and officials. In April 2000, Laloo was chargesheeted
in the case, with wife Rabri Devi as co-accused. In December '06, they
were acquitted, but the CBI and the Bihar government, now under the
JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, opposed the decision in the Patna high court.
Till date, 250 persons have been convicted. But the scandal's severest
toll has been on Laloo's reputation.

Petrol Pump Scam

Shortly after the NDA came to power in '98, the BJP was quick to prove
it was not "a party with a difference". By '02, it was evident that
most petrol pump, LPG and kerosene allotments during the NDA regime
had favoured BJP functionaries, Sangh activists and selected governors
and bureaucrats. Then prime minister A.B. Vajpayee was forced to
cancel all 3,158 allotments, with effect from January 2000. However,
the SC quashed the order. In 2005, an apex court-appointed panel
recommended that 296 of the 409 allotments be cancelled.

Operation West End

Tehelka.com sent shockwaves throughout the country when it released
secret video footage of senior politicians, including then BJP
president Bangaru Laxman and Samata Party national president Jaya
Jaitly, bureaucrats and army officers accepting bribes for defence
deals. This was the first major sting operation in Indian journalism.
From then on, getting 'Bangarued' came to mean being caught with your
hand in the till. The scandal forced Bangaru and then defence minister
George Fernandes to resign. The CBI filed charges against Bangaru and
two of his aides in July '06 and against Jaitly in December '06.
Chargesheets were also filed in 2006 against some of the other accused
in the Union ministry of defence and the army. R.K. Jain, former
treasurer of the Samata Party, was finally arrested in 2006 on charges
of receiving huge payoffs in defence deals.

Bu Smita Gupta with Debarshi Dasgupta

Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM

22 Gulam:>>" Who are "we" here?
All those involved in fighting the terrorists."

All those now involved in 'protecting/training' the terrorists should
also sincerely join the fight against terrorists and their
elimination. Otherwise, these may well be the first, though
unintended, casualties in the terrorist explosions. Perhaps, you may
be able make them realize this, before it is too late.

v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM

21 Seshadri,

>> Who are "we" here?

All those involved in fighting the terrorists.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM

20 Ghulam:>>"We should kill them at a faster rate than they can train
their recruits."

Who are "we" here? The major OIC countries, especially Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, should help non-OIC terrorist-
targetted countries like, India, UK, US in detecting and exterminating
terrorists. Will they? Pakistan is sheltering the Bombay bomber and
Bin Laden and denying it all the time. God Allah will help these
moslems only if they help in eliminating islamic terrorists. Will
they ?
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM

19 "The expansion of the ummah and the killing of "kafirs" are both
ideas that do not cross the minds of the bulk of the Muslim
community."

Most of the muslims nourish ideas of ummah expansion and how it can be
brought about. Many of them express it shamelessly, in schools,
offices etc. One of the reasons why the rest of the Indians despise
Muslims in general.
chaitanya
chennai, India
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM

18 Seshadri,

>> It means 5 million can be killed or maimed, in due course, by these.

Not if we are killing them at the same time. We should kill them at a
faster rate than they can train their recruits. The terrorists have
done more harm to Muslims than to anyone else.

>> you will agree that all moslems consider non-moslem khafirs could justifiably be killed, if they come in the way of the expansion of the UMMA.

Not true. The expansion of the ummah and the killing of "kafirs" are
both ideas that do not cross the minds of the bulk of the Muslim
community. I have never heard of them from anyone I know. The only
time I hear them is from the sanghis, zionists and from rabid jehadis
who somehow or other have become the favorites of British TV crews.

Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM

17 Ghulam:>>"The best estimate of American and British experts in the
field on the total number of terrorists in the world is less than
10,000."

I see it was Joseph who mentioned the number of jihadis as only a few
millions out 1.3 billion moslems in the world. I wrongly attributed it
to you, sorry. You say the ''trained' terrorist jihadis' are only
10,000; each has a potential for killing or disabling 500 persons,
with today's terrorism technology. It means 5 million can be killed or
maimed, in due course, by these.
More are being trained, in the mean time. IF the moslem states
cooperate with the non-moslem states, the menace can be contained.
Otherwise, the number of terrorist jihadis may grow exponentially with
time and become uncontainable, as it is becoming in Iraq.

>>"You were implying that all Muslims, that is 1.3 billion, were trained to kill non-believers. That is patently untrue."

I did not imply that all the moslems were "trained" to kill the other
non-believers. But, you will agree that all moslems consider non-
moslem khafirs could justifiably be killed, if they come in the way of
the expansion of the UMMA. Even this is against the basic human rights
of non-moslems also as humans, with a right to exist. If devout
moslems believe that only believers in Allah will go to heaven in
after-life, I have no objections to that.

v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM

16 Seshadri,

>> You have yourself stated earlier that the 'few' jihadis amount to a few millions.

What we were discussing was what percentage of Muslims may be
terrorists. The best estimate of American and British experts in the
field on the total number of terrorists in the world is less than
10,000. You were implying that all Muslims, that is 1.3 billion, were
trained to kill non-believers. That is patently untrue.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM

15 Ghulam:>>"Not true, except perhaps for a few jehadis "

You have yourself stated earlier that the 'few' jihadis amount to a
few millions. If each suicide bomber can kill 100 and disable another
100, most of them moslems of slightly different sects, the few million
jihadis can finish off most of the billion-plus moslems in the moslem
world today. Is it desirable or permissible ?
Moslem govts should themselves monitor their madarsas, modernize their
education, reduce inter-sect hatreds, liberalize the moslems' world-
view and jail the die-hard jihadis in isolated islands, if reqd.
Mesa'potamia' is burning, George Bush on the 'Potamac' river in
Washington is not able to do much about it. Only Man Mohan Singh's
kind heart may be bleeding for the berieved, disabled, displaced and
refugees of Iraq, especially the children. I wonder why the OIC or the
moslem-welfare organization you have in US are not doing anything
about it. The OIC should itself organize a CIA type secret service to
identify hard-core suicidal jihadis among moslems and arrest them and
put them off.

The idea that 72 'virgins' are waiting to please martyrs in heaven
must be re-explained to the moslems in general and jihadis in
particular. What Narada {Gaapriya=Gasbriel] told Mohammed [Ravana]is
that there is a non-gravity region in Jupiter [St. Peter's 'heaven']
neighbourhood; soul-will in that neighbourhood can bring about the
'joining' of appropriate free elements of the periodic table, seen as
the 272 joiners or yoginees [spiritual virgins, in tantra saastra on
the sree chakra, wheel of creation] to form bodies to experience some
life and apples to eat and so on. 72 of the more significant elements
are indicated by Narada to Ravana. Bhagavat Geeta also talks about
swarga where souls can have some happiness before returning on a new
birth to the earth. If these things are explained and sexual
interpretation of the enjoyment of virgins etc is removed, jihadi
enthusiasm may come down; they may choose to have some good lives on
the earth itself.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM

14 Seshadri,

>> Moslems are brought up to consider all nonmoslems as khafirs fit for elimination only.

Not true, except perhaps for a few jehadis who miss the main thrust of
religious teaching and memorize just a few paragraphs out of context.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM

13 >>" corruption: abuse of public power for private gain. They rolled
out decade after decade"

Corruption will continue to mar the nation's politics and
administration until politics ceases to be the first choice as 'money-
making profession' for scoundrels and scoundrel families. Perhaps, the
grandchildren of corpotate-succeess families now may loose the lure
for lucre and seek to enter politics for purely 'national service' and
not to make money, which they may have in abundance.

But, there is one aspect which popular will can enforce on corrupt
politicians/bureauocrats, even now, namely quick, early and proper
punishments when prima facie crime has been established. The Chinese
have recently given death sentence to a senior official found
responsible for non-enforcement of pharma-product qualities. We may
not go that for, but we may at least confiscate the properties of
politicians and bureauocrats found guilty by the first courts, on
fodder scam, stamp-paper scam etc; they could go in appeal to higher
courts, as per law, but leaving them in power and with ill-accumulated
wealth already declared illegal still with them only makes it easier
for them to employ the most expensive lawyers and win the appeals
somehow, or delay eventual sentences by decades. Karunanidhi now
questionably celebrates halfcentury in politics, only because the case
against some ex-judge who held his black money benami could not end
even before the said judge himself died ! If confiscation of property
pending appeals becomes the norm, such confiscated wealth could be
held in trust and the income proceedings from it can be used for
health and education of the poor in the country; trust can be closed
and wealth returned to appellant, if and when he wins the appeal at
the higher court.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM

12 Shenoy: Moslems are brought up to consider all nonmoslems as
khafirs fit for elimination only. But, practising christians like
Joseph could be expected to be even-handed between hindus and moslems,
but he is very partial to islam, favouring its growth and eventual
domination of world, to eliminate other cultures and civilizations
from the world, because of its basic intolerance. But he forgets that
such intolerant culures usually meet their nemesis, by internal feuds
and conflicts, besides acts of God like earthquakes and volcano
eruptions and tsunamis, since arrogance violates God's expectation
from mankind; the Roman civilization met with its end for such reasons
only.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM

11 Joseph:>>"So-called Islamic Fundamentalists or so-called Jehadis
total a few million people "

Today's news is that over 170 people died and over 200 injured in Iraq
in one or two suicide bombings. Thus, each jihadi claiming heaven's
vigins makes life extinct or impossible for over 200 people, most of
them moslems also. You say there are only a few million jihadi
moslems. But, 5 million jihadis are enough to kill or disable a
billion moslems, if my arithmatic is right, 7 million enough to take
care of all moslems. Are you happy with the situation? Perhaps, you
are happy about it, as a practising christian, so long as the people
killed are only moslems, jews, hindus, not christians. But moslems
must consider the fact jihadism is wiping out moslems at a rate faster
than procreationism is proliferating it. Moslems should learn to live
in harmony with other cultures all over the world, enlarging and
ennobling quranic laws into humanistic
welfare laws, by give-and-take adjustments with the laws of other
cultures also, which are also human.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM

10 Joseph:>>"the President and the Prime Minister of India will always
be Hindus."

Since you insist on proportionate representation for moslems, i.e,
increasing representation for them, as their population increases
disproportionately every decade, they will increase their political
power in all the legislatures and the parliament; chances of moslem
presidents and prime-ministers for India would only increase.
Recently, all 3 candidates for VP's post were moslems. Nothing wrong,
if they are like Zakir Hussein, Abdul Kalam or Ansari. The word,
moslem, sanskritized, stands for mukta-Sreemaan, liberated well-fare-
minded person. All moslems should live upto their names.

v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM

9 Joseph:>>"Secularism without Equity and proportionate representation
is, Mr. Seshadari, Sham-Secularism. I stand by my observations and
forecast that, henceforth, the President and the Prime Minister of
India will always be Hindus."

A secular democracy can only provide equality of 'opportunity' to all
creeds and castes in the country, people have to utilize them and come
up.

Pak and B-desh drove out nonmoslems. Earlier the moslems 'destroyed'
all persians in Iran and buddheists in Afghanistan, you seem to have
no regrets on that. They would have done the same in India, but the
hindu 'cast' system saved them from annihilation, as a bad blessing in
disguise; only the 'fighting caste' faught and died, 'traders' fled
and came back; priest-caste were either pushed into temples [those not
destroyed] or pushed out of villages as the new 'dalits', the
'workers' started working for the new masters, without change of
religion. Only the older dalits could be persuaded to become moslems.
Women, of all castes, if not too old and not married, were all taken
into harems of the sheiks; child-marriage of girls saved India's
ancient civilization for posterity.

Compared to this, free India's treatment of the non-hindu minorities
has been more humanistic and less demonaic; in fact the privileges
given in set-up, staffing, charging etc of minority institutions for
education in India have been such that, minority college-lords have
prospered fleecing the hindus on education; hindus are trying to get
minority college status on language basis; RKMutt is seeking minority
status for convenience, knowing Paramahamsa will not approve it ! My
late friend Varghese of HCE in Chennai was hoping his college wealth
will beat the Birlas! But now, lay christians in Kerala are raising
their voice against greedy churchian priests running colleges for
profit there. Commerce stands for 'kaama' and 'eershaa', desire and
jeaolousy; hence it leads to corporate behaviour, 'sarpa-reetih',
serpentine behaviour.

Sanskrit apart, you should admit that, opportunity-wise, minorities in
India have been treated more than fairly. Christians have benefitted
and prosperred, because they have left the bible behind and grown up
with science and technology for progress in this world, like their
counterparts in the west, other than the catholics of south America;
but moslems have used their educational priviliege only to deepen
quranic education and thinking in madarsa children. Result is that
moslem children shun science and technology, grow up to be either
traders or tailors or artisans or money-lenders, [perhaps they could
get into police/army, but they probably think defending India will be
quranic sin] They keep their women in coverage, concentrate more on
procreation than creativity, demand larger power in politics because
of increasing numbers in population. Post-1973 rise in oil prices gets
them more Arab dollars for madarsas, making them imagine that God is
for the UMMA to eventuyally take over the world. But, money can buy
things only if someone in the world 'produces' goods other than
children. If the whole world has only procreators, the increasing
population will die of hunger and overpopulate the heaven.

Friends of islam, like you, should advise modernisation of madarsa
education, instead of hate-hindu ideas. Then, moslems can take all
sorts of jobs and prosper in all fields. I have taught in an IIT and
elsewhere for over 50 yrs, had only very few moslem students in most
classes, but those who were there were very studious, courteous and
competant; given good education, they can equal and excel all other
cultures, and deserve the fact that Lord Skanda [same as Apollo/Jesus]
appeared as Sikandar for the moslems to save them from extinction by
the crusaders. God has only mercy and goodwill for all mankind. It is
for humans to utilize it.

v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

8 Secularism without Equity and proportionate representation is, Mr.
Seshadari, Sham-Secularism. I stand by my observations and forecast
that, henceforth, the President and the Prime Minister of India will
always be Hindus.

Going by the Caste situation in India, to an out side mind, it is
difficult to accept that Hindus will accept non-Hindus as equals when
Hindus themselves are discriminated against by fellow Hindus.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

7 Dear Mr. B. V. Shenoy, I take serious umbrage at your addressing me,
a practicing Christian, as one who does not afford space for other
Religions and for alleging that I am steeped in Islamic
Fundamentalism, whatever that may mean.

Please allow me to recapulate my basic premises about Islam and
Muslims which are as Follows.
a. As Muslims number 1.37 billion which is about one-fifth of the
World's people, it will serve no useful purpose to browbeat them or
subjugate them as is being attempted in Afghanistan, Iraq and
Palestine and elsewhere to a lesser degree.
b. So-called Islamic Fundamentalists or so-called Jehadis total a few
million people out of a total 1,370 Million people.
c. The more the West adopts the present strategy, more number of
Muslims will become antagonistic to it.
d. Islam is growing while other Faiths are either static or losing
followers.
e. Muslims are far more ardent in following their precepts and
practices and as such are a far more dynamic whole.
f. It is better to 'live and let live'
g. From (f.) above must follow a just and equitable solution of the
socio-political issues relating to Muslims in the Philippines,
Thailand, Myanmar, Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir, the South-
West Regions of China and Palestine.

Iam quite clear in my mind that the continuinf presence of foreign
invading forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 'cruel approach' of
Israel to Lebanon and Palestine is only exacerbating the problems.
This appraisal is seconded by a House of Commons Committee as may be
seen below.

Let us not use exaggeration and negative observations against some
one, just because his or her views are unpalatable.

Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

6 I have to thank you Mr. Pathasarathy for telling me what I always
knew that the Minorities in India are no better off than their
counterparts in Pakistan. As a matter of fact, in the political sphere
we are far better off in that we have Joint Electorate with Special
Reserved Seats as well.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

5 Dear Sheshadri, you are wasting your admittedly deep knowledge about
the Hindu scriptures and holy books on people like Joseph who are
steeped in Islamic fundamentalism which refuses to acknowledge living
space for other religions. You may be a great savant or a pundit, but
for Joseph, you are only a kafir. Pl keep this in mind.
B.V.SHENOY
BANGALORE, India
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

4 Joseph:>>" India is a Hindu Country masquerading as a Secular One"

You are being unfair to hinduism and India and you know that.
Secularism, pluralism etc. are respectable words in India's politics,
only because the majority of population in India is still hindu,
despite higher-than-average proliferation rate of moslems and rapid
increases in churchians by open and crypto-convesions. Hunduism in
India still respects secular values for India, because the bhagavat
Gita, accepted by all sections of hinduism. requires that hindus
should respect all godheads faithully believed in by people anywherem,
since the formless and hence all-forms-possible Absolute will respond
to them in any form faithfully worshipped. Even the RSS/BJP/VHP are
fighting only for the survival of primordial hinduism in India, in
harmony with all other world religions, NOT for the removal of other
religionists from India, or the curtailment of their citizenship
rights in India's dynamic democracy, temporarily operating as if it is
a dynastic demonarchy.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

3 When will the U. P. A. Government fall, Miss. Chitra of Mangalore?.
Rather, more precisely, when will Sardar Manmohan Singh be asked to
resign?.

We are coming closer to the situation where the President and Prime
Minister will always be Hindu, which is how it should be as India is a
Hindu Country masquerading as a Secular One. Sixty years is, indeed,
to long to carry on with a myth.

By the way, were you at St. Agnes'?.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM

2 Congress and secular brigades are known as mother of all scams and
scandals. Today india is fast moving to occupy the world's most
corrupt nation. Let us hope that we stand first at least in some area.
Shameless secular leaders are running in the government in the name of
secularism and showing ghost of the hindu nationalists. Our democracy
have failed to punish corrupt politicians. UPA government is full of
corrupts, anti-nationals and hardcore islamists.

Miss Chitra
Mangalore, India
Aug 12, 2007 12:00 AM

1 Man u guys are liar.. after investigation it was found only 7% of
petrol pump went to peopel with BJP support.. given BJp usually nets
around 26% popular vote if anything bjp suporter should cry foul that
they didn;t get their proper share..
Rahul
Delhi, India

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235369

National Magazine | May 01, 1996

Focus

Settling A Score

Nina Pillai's mission is to defeat the Congress
Ajith Pillai

Focus

The Political Option

M'esco Managing Director Rita Singh hits the campaign trail
Bharat Ahluwalia

EVER since the gruesome death last July in Tihar jail of her biscuit
tycoon husband Rajan Pillai, Nina Pillai has been threatening to get
her back on "friendly" politicians who "deserted" her in her husband's
time of need. So it did not come as a surprise when she filed her
nomination as an independent candidate for the Lok Sabha from her
husband's hometown of Kollam, 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

Though she does not admit it, Nina's immediate mission seems to be not
to win herself but to ensure the defeat of Congress candidate and
Union Minister of State S. Krishna Kumar. "Krishna Kumar was supposed
to be our friend," she says. "But he refused to even come on the phone
when Rajan was dying." However, she is quick to add that it is not
Krishna Kumar she is fighting. "I am fighting his boss."

The 39-year-old former air hostess is also using her political status
to embarrass the Congress. Her revelation at a press conference in
Thiruvan-anthapuram on April 17 that her husband had been cheated by a
political nexus, with the controversial godman Chandraswami at its
core, will not help the Congress. She has alleged that about $2
million was paid to the godman between November '94 and February '95
by her husband. Chandraswami had promised to sort things out for Rajan
Pillai but finally failed him. Points out Nina: "The money was paid to
him because even senior Union ministers we approached told us that
Chandraswami was the man who could move things at the Prime Minister's
level".

She also sees sinister machinations in the troubles she has been
facing in claiming her shareholdings in various companies owned by her
late husband. She suspects the hand of a rival business group which
she alleges is acting with the blessings of Chandraswami. Says Nina:
"Rajan is gone. Now this friend of the Prime Minister wants to torture
a helpless widow." She says her husband fell out of favour with a
section of Congressmen after the '91 elections. It was then that her
husband, she claims, on the request of a senior Congress leader from
Maharashtra, approached K. Karunakaran and Satish Sharma, asking them
not to support Narasimha Rao as the candidate for prime minister-ship.
"Ever since this came to the notice of Chandraswami, we have been in
trouble," she says.

Though Nina Pillai is not likely to emerge even as a marginal leader,
local Congress leaders did their best to persuade her not to contest.
Among them: Chief Minister A.K. Antony, Union Industries Minister K.
Karunakaran and PCC President Vylar Ravi. The Pillais are influential
in Kerala and traditional Congress supporters.

The only cause for comfort in the Congress camp is that Nina is a
novice in politics and as an independent she lacks the backing of any
political organisation. The BJP has come forward to support her but
the party's infrastructure is not fully committed to campaign for her,
perhaps because Nina has made it clear that she will not join any
party. Says she: "Don't think I am part of the BJP. I am not. They
(BJP) came forward to help and I said fine. I want to be an
independent".

Her campaign involves meeting people directly rather than holding
meetings. However, Nina says she is trying to rope in Arjun Singh,
Kiran Bedi and friends in the film industry in Bombay to attend a
rally in Kollam. But despite such plans, her campaigning is patchy.
She is the first to admit that she is a reluctant politician. "I never
dreamt of getting into politics. I have literally been forced to fight
this election. I am fight-ing it for my survival and the survival of
my children".

Though her husband's family was opposed to her entering politics they
have now come around and her in-laws who command much respect in
Kollam have extended support. Early estimates put it that Nina will
corner enough votes to ensure Krishna Kumar's defeat. That, in a
sense, will be victory for her.

May 29, 1996
1 No Place for Revenge

It was saddening to learn that people enter the electoral fray revenge
(Settling a Score, 1). Nina Pillai has admitted that her husband Rajan
had tried to bribe himself of the mess he was mired presumably one of
his own creation, by offering Rs 2 crore Chandraswami. Business people
like them exploit and a corrupt system to further eir ends and, in the
rare instances when they don't succeed, cry themselves hoarse bout
corruption.

Nina Pillai contested the elections not to serve the electorate, but
to ensure the down- of Krishna Kumar, who (I be wrong) is one of the
Congress politicians who is clean and, what's more, who proved himself
an able administrator and an efficient minister. It is not that I
don't sympathise with Nina Pillai. she has suffered is traumatic. But
it is, to a large extent, the effect of the actions of her own ilk
that nurtured such a system. The only thing that can be said in her
favour is that she is honest and makes no bones about her intentions.

N.J. Thomas, Dehra Dun

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201281

SC's Poser on Chandraswami's Role in Rajiv Assassination
New Delhi | May 26, 2009

The Supreme Court put a query why no proceedings were initiated
against controversial godman Chandraswami if the government really
suspected him of funding the assassination of former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE.

"If he has funded the assassination, then why did you not proceed
against him?" a vacation bench of Justices VS Sirpurkar and RM Lodha
asked ED's counsel Wasim Ahmed Qadri.

The bench made the passing reference after the ED opposed
Chandraswami's plea to travel abroad on the ground that he had several
criminal cases registered against him and is suspected of funding the
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the controversial godman,
however, told the court that Chandraswami was never an accused in the
case unlike the slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran and others like the
organisation's intelligence wing chief Pottu Amman.

To another query from the bench, Quadri said it appears the case
against Prabahakaran might be closed in India in view of his killing
by the Sri Lankan Army.

Rohtagi earlier strongly pleaded that Chandraswami be permitted to
travel abroad as he had been acquitted of all the criminal cases
registered against him, except the nine-odd cases registered against
him by ED.

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?660446

National / Politics / Interviews Magazine | Dec 08, 1997

Exclusive

"Chandraswami Was Sivarasan's Godfather"

J. Ranganath, who sheltered Sivarasan, Rajiv's assassin, speaks to
Outlook on One-eyed Jack's last few days

A.S. Panneerselvan Interviews J. Ranganath

Jayaram Ranganath, 40, is accused No. 26 in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case. A Kannadiga Tamil from Bangalore, he was married
to Mridula and owned a workshop in the garden city. An unwitting
player after Rajiv's assassins—kingpin Sivarasan alias one-eyed Jack,
and Shubha, part of the killer squad at Sriperumbudur, along with five
others—knocked on his backdoor and allegedly forced entry into his
house on August 6, 1991. The LTTE operatives stayed on till August 20
when the CBI raided the house and found them dead. The deaths, says
the police, was by suicide, although there are doubts about this
theory.

Ranganath was arrested on August 18, 1991, for sheltering Sivarasan
and Shubha. Ironically, it was Ranganath who informed the police about
the fugitives in his house and is the only witness to the CBI's break-
in operation. And he and his estranged wife are the only ones to have
heard Sivarasan and Shubha speak about the crime.

Ranganath's recent affidavit filed before the Jain Commission accuses
the CBI of deliberately hiding key facts and shielding several
culprits. His major contention is that his information that Sivarasan
and his team were promised a safe passage to the West by Chandraswami
and details pertaining to the god -man and some Congress leaders were
not recorded by the CBI. According to him, the CBI was determined not
to widen the net beyond the role of the LTTE in the plot to kill
Rajiv. "As the only living witness and the only one with no political
axe to grind, my words should be taken seriously," he declares.

As a key witness, the information he has is important, to say the
least. A.S. Panneerselvan sought an interview through Ranganath's
lawyers. The questions were sent to him at the high security
Poonamallee sub-jail located within the designated court complex where
the Rajiv assassination case is being heard in Chennai. Ranganath's
answers have been duly attested by the additional superintendent of
the jail. Excerpts:

Did Sivarasan and Shubha tell you about their connections with
Chandraswami and an AICC functionary?

They did speak about their connections with Chandraswami and also with
a Congress leader from Karnataka who was a member of Rajiv Gandhi's
cabinet. They used to say that it was through this leader that they
got the details of Rajiv Gandhi's election tour programme. They talked
about the AICC functionary as their close associate. During his stay
with me, Sivarasan also informed me that Chandraswami was his
godfather.

(In his affidavit submitted to the Jain Commission on November 4,
Ranganath speaks of Sivarasan and Shubha naming Aswath Narayan, a
local Congress leader, as one of their friends. Both Shubha and
Sivarasan pointed out that Narayan was close to the AICC functionary
in Delhi who helped them with Rajiv's tour programme.)

What was the safe passage promised to Sivarasan by Chandraswami?

Sivarasan wanted to go abroad directly from Bangalore. This was the
reason why he came to Bangalore. But he said that if he went to Jaffna
he could be killed and that the 'Jain Muni' (The godman's real name is
Nemichand Jain) would arrange for his safe passage to a foreign
country.

(In his affidavit to the commission, Ranganath declares that Sivarasan
told him the godman planned to first bring him to Delhi and then sneak
him out to a foreign destination.)

Did the CBI prevent you from telling the whole truth?

The CBI threatened me. Barring the LTTE, they did not want me to
mention the involvement of the others in the crime. Since they fixed
the LTTE as the only offenders, they wanted evidence to accuse it—and
not against those who commissioned the offence.

What are the truths the CBI refused to record or act upon?

Then CBI chief Karthikeyan warned me not to speak anything about the
AICC functionary or any other Congress people, and Chandraswami.
Karthikeyan seemed to know the facts about the assassination and also
the powers behind Rajiv's killing. He warned me of serious
consequences if I gave the information to a magistrate or others. From
what he told me it was clear that he was shielding Chandraswami and
some key Congress people. Even after my request, CBI (SIT) failed to
record my statement.

I took DCP Kempiah (Karnataka police) to the Bangalore hideout where
Sivarasan and Shubha were hiding. But his statement has not been
produced before the designated court.

How do you know that the CBI was reluctant to arrest Sivarasan and
Shubha?

On the morning of July 30, 1991, a person called Vicky was arrested at
Coimbatore. He gave specific information about Sivarasan's hideout in
Bangalore (this was before Sivarasan and the others forcibly entered
Ranganath's house on August 6). But for 24 hours, the CBI made no
effort to search the hideout. On August 2, 1991, the CBI questioned
one Jaganathan, who arranged four safehouses for the LTTE workers. He
gave details of the locations of these houses and the hospitals in
which the injured LTTE men were admitted. But the CBI did not make any
effort to arrest Sivarasan. Perhaps because if he were caught alive,
Sivarasan would squeal about those who conspired to kill Rajiv and
also of his (Sivarasan's) connections with Congressmen. This is
perhaps why even on August 18, 1991, the CBI did not allow the local
police to catch them.

If I get an opportunity to depose before the Jain Commission, then I
will prove the fact that there are other persons involved in Rajiv
Gandhi's assassination. I am the only one alive who stayed with
Sivarasan and Shubha (after the assassination) and heard what they had
to say about the killing.

Aug 25, 2009 04:04 PM
1 congress has involved in rajiv's killing it is the hidden fact
MATHI
Madurai, India

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?204696

National / Politics / Cover Stories Magazine | May 04, 1998

Cover Story

Enter Chandraswami
Rajesh Joshi

Also In This Story

Cover Story
The Life And Times Of Jayalalitha"

No one can get anything out of me or subdue me by threats, harsh
treatment; it only makes me more stubborn, inflexible, unbending,
determined. The only way anyone can get me to cooperate is to be nice
to me, pamper me, cajole me, talk to me kindly, softly." —Jayalalitha
in a March 1985 interview.Ajith Pillai, A.S. Panneerselvan

Cover Story

The Revenge Of Draupadi

Cover StoryThe Inner Circle

Cover StoryA Coalition In FettersThe BJP struggles to come up with a
strategy to deal with unpredictable allies like JayalalithaIshan
Joshi

Cover StoryAn Intriguing DualismThe Tamil psyche is a paradoxical mix
of a 2,000-year-old heritage, regional pride and modernitySagarika
Ghose

Cover Story72% Tamils Angry With Jaya's DemandsTo gauge the reaction
of the people of Tamil Nadu to AIADMK leader Jayalalitha demands on
the BJP government at the centre ,an option poll was conducted by
Outlook - Mode in the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and
adjoining areas. In all 5990 respondents in the age group 21 - 45 were
interviewed on April 21 - 23. Most of them do not approve of her
actions and move to destabilise the Vajpayee government.

CHANDRASWAMI is back in business. His services were sought recently by
friends in the BJP to defuse the on-going crisis provoked by the
friend Subramanian Swamy and J. Jayalalitha on one side, and Ram
Jethmalani on the other. Even though the BJP adopts an anti-
Chandraswami posture in public, senior leaders like Murli Manohar
Joshi and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat are known to be close to him.

So, while the prime minister appealed to the allies to observe
restraint, Shekhawat met the godman at Rajas-than Bhawan, apparently
to propitiate Swamy. However, Chandraswami's aide Vikram Singh
maintains they discussed "some work regarding his school in
Rajasthan".

Such interaction with the godman is not new. Sources say that after
the general elections when the BJP was still trying to garner support,
Chandraswami was approached by "top party leaders". Says a
Chandraswami aide: "Around 10 days before the formation of the
government, people from the BJP approached Swamiji to get Dr Swamy and
Jayalalitha around." And now with the BJP-Jayalalitha standoff
continuing, the Vajpayee government badly needs an effective
intermediary. Chandraswami, it is felt, is just the man. His hold on
Swamy can be gauged from the fact that he played an important role in
bringing two sworn enemies, Swamy and Jayalalitha, together.

But those close to Chandraswami concede that even he can't ask Swamy
to keep quiet. "How can you expect Swamy to keep quiet when he is not
getting anything? Why does one then get into politics?" asks Singh.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205454

National / Politics Magazine | May 11, 1998

Focus

Swami's New Saviours

Will friends in the BJP coalition help Chandraswami wriggle out of the
cases against him?
Charu Lata Joshi

Also In This Story

Chandraswami Case-List

CONTROVERSIAL godman Chandraswami could well have been holidaying in
the south of France. But for a timely order on May 1 by CBI Special
Judge Ajit Bharioke who has been hearing the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating
case—and in whose court the swami had moved an application for
permission to travel to France and the US for 'medical treatment'.

Till then, Chandraswami's plans for a getaway had appeared to be
moving with clock-work precision.

Jethmalani feels the government is 'soft' on the Godman. AIADMK's R.
Kumar is believed to be behind the 'Save Swami' campaign.

Just a fortnight back, on April 17, the Directorate of Enforcement
(DOE)—which is trying him for five cases of foreign exchange
violations amounting to Rs 2,100 crore—had told the metropolitan
magistrate hearing the cases that it had no objection to his
travelling abroad. In a matter of days, the court gave Chandraswami
the green signal.

The two dichotomous moves have exposed a simmering controversy within
the government on the future of the godman. And has exposed the power
he continues to wield. This time round, Chandraswami derives his
strength, not only from his proximity to BJP leaders like Bhairon
Singh Shekhawat, but also from his closeness to Janata Party chief
Subramanian Swamy. And it is the Swamy-faction—represented by AIADMK
chief J. Jayalalitha and her minister of state for banking, R.K. Kumar—
who appear to be indirectly involved in soft-peddling the cases
against Chandraswami. Says Ram Jethmalani, minister for urban
development, who has had clashes with both the godman and Swamy: "The
attempts to go soft on Chandraswami seem quite obvious."

The stand adopted by the DOE—a letter from Kunal Singh, assistant
director of investigation, Delhi zone, had informed the court that it
had "no objection" to Chandraswami's travel plans—which literally gave
him permission to flee the country, has clouded the entire proceedings
with suspicion. The enforcement agency holds that since both
investigation and adjudication proceedings were completed in the four
cases, they had technically no reason to oppose his application.
However, legal experts argue that the move amounts to a major
concession towards Chandraswami by the department. The move seems
suspicious since investigation is still pending in one case—involving
foreign exchange transactions worth $200,000 with his then New York-
based disciple Bina Ramani in 1981—and there are apprehensions that if
he does travel abroad, he could tamper with witnesses and crucial
evidence.

The fact that the metropolitan magistrate had first asked for the
DOE's stand on the accused in writing and also demanded Chandraswami's
status in the CBI cases, possibly indicates the DOE's influ-ence over
the court's decision.

What made the DOE's stand even more dubious was the fact that yet
another sister agency, the CBI, which when confronted with a similar
move in the Pathak case—the agency is presently handling two cases
against the godman, the St Kitts Forgery case as well as the Lakhubhai
Pathak cheating case—had categorically opposed the godman's
application to travel abroad. According to sources, Cha-ndraswami is
likely to move the high court in appeal against the rejection of his
application by Bharioke.

THE godman's moves are getting desperate. And in the process, the
dichotomy in the government's stand is being further exposed. In a
spate of curious developments, even as the DOE appeared to be giving
Chandraswami a free rein, a definite lobby within the government,
headed by L.K. Advani in the home ministry, appears all set to nail
him. The main motive being to get at the BJP's principal foe,
Subramanian Swamy. Says Supreme Court senior counsel, Ashok Panda:
"What is required is a comprehensive approach by the government as a
whole and not diverse actions by individual agencies. "

Within a matter of days of the DOE move, the ministry of home affairs
(MHA) gave its approval to prosecute the god-man under the Foreign
Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). The case had come to light when
the CBI, while inspecting the accounts of Chandraswami's Vishwa
Dharmayatan Trust, found that it had not intimated the MHA of its
foreign contributions ever since it was formed in 1985. The agency
subsequently filed a chargesheet and moved the MHA for sanction to
prosecute the godman

. Recently, an interim Income Tax report evaluated the total assets of
Chandraswami and the Trust at Rs 2,300 crore, a substantial amount of
which came from foreign donations. The report, which gives a detailed
break-up of foreign donations received by the Trust till June, 1996,
shows that, among others, NRI businessmen Somchai Chawla of Hong Kong,
Abdul Ismail from the UK, Adnan Khashoggi and Rakesh Khanna from
Canada, had made substantial contributions in dollars.

The income tax department's inquiry into the godman's living expenses
also shows that he had spent nearly Rs 200-300 crore on foreign trips
undertaken between 1985-95. The report also mentions Vikram Singh as
Chandraswami's closest confidant and states that he is the director of
five companies—Ambassador Construction Pvt Ltd., Neptune Estates Pvt
Ltd., Nav-Abhiyan Publication Pvt Ltd., Scorpion Finlease Pvt Ltd.,
and Genesis Financial Services Pvt Ltd.

But, despite all the probes into the god-man's murky financial affairs—
which followed after the public interest litigation was filed in
Supreme Court in December, 1996—what has emerged most clearly is that
the swami is neither down nor out. After nearly two years of heated
legal battles and after languishing for eight months in a dingy Tihar
cell, Chandraswami appears to have staged a dramatic comeback.
Political circles are abuzz with news of his having returned to his
favourite occupation: power-broking.

What has aroused even greater suspicion within certain sceptics in the
DOE circles is Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's recent
announcement to "introduce drastic changes" in foreign exchange
regulations by the next session of Parliament. Insiders fear that this
will spell a dilution in powers of arrest as well as major concessions
to FERA offenders. Realistically, this may imply that the charges
which Chandraswami presently faces may not constitute offences at all
by the time a new enactment on FERA is brought about.

Political pundits see a deeper conspiracy behind the recent moves to
go-slow on Chandraswami. The fact that both Chandraswami and
Subramanian Swamy have allegedly been named in Justice M.C. Jain's
final report on the larger conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's
assassination, and that the government has a mere six months to place
it before Parliament along with an Action Taken Report is one of the
reasons for Chandraswami's desperation to flee the country. According
to sources, former cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah had told Jain of
having personally read certain wireless intercepts of conversations
between the LTTE, Chandraswami and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad
in early 1991. And these had allegedly showed their involvement in the
wider international conspiracy.

With the underlying pressure to make the report public, the
speculation is that certain factions in the government are eager to
free Chandraswami and would prefer to turn the heat on the Janata
Party leader—who is, in any case, causing problems for the ruling
combine. Legally, too, experts argue that a case of embezzlement and
foreign exchange regulations is not as serious as the findings of the
Jain Commission report. For, once a special team is constituted to
further investigate the Jain Commission recommendations, it will lead
to a serious probe into an even murkier case of money laundering, and
involvement with foreign intelligence agencies in an assassination.

But given that Advani has constituted a team of home ministry
officials to recommend further action on the basis of Jain's
recommendations and an internal report is to be submitted to him
within a month, the heat on the godman seems back on. Yet, knowing
Chandraswami, he will do his bit to use every likely political contact
to wriggle out of a sticky situation.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205496

National / Politics Magazine | May 15, 1996

Investigation

No Godfather Now

Chandraswami's fate will depend on the next government
Ranjit Bhushan , A.S. Panneerselvan

WILL Chandraswami ever be nailed? This week, finally, may provide an
answer as the godman was remanded to a day's judicial custody till May
4. But that answer hinges on another key question: is Narasimha Rao
losing his grip over the proceedings? That may be decided by May 10,
when the results of the elections are expected to be known. If Rao
returns as Prime Minister, the May 2 arrest of the well-chronicled and
controversial godman in a Madras hotel could turn out to be merely a
flash in the pan.

But in the event of the reins of power slipping from Rao's hands, the
investigating agencies may have a different role to play. "The charges
are serious. Depends on how they are framed," says an official
coordinating several charges against the self-styled guru—which range
from income-tax evasion to FERA violations to charges of bribery and
cheating.

Officials admit that the charge on which Chandraswami and close
associate Kailash Nath Agrawal (alias 'Mamaji') were picked up—of
cheating London-based NRI Lakhu Bhai Pathak to the tune of $100,000—is
a weak link in the chain of investigations launched against the
godman. But if Rao's downfall becomes inevitable, there is every
reason for Chandraswami's tryst with trouble to be long drawn out.

On May 2, Delhi's chief metropolitan magistrate Prem Kumar issued non-
bailable warrants against Chandraswami. Issuing the warrants, Kumar
directed the CBI that the godman be arrested and produced on or before
May 14. Such is the godman's clout that reporters trying to ascertain
the next course of action were informed that "he would have to be
traced", even though it seemed common knowledge that the god-man was
holed up in Madras.

A 10-member CBI team headed by Joint Director D. Mukerjee descended on
the Om Sindoori hotel in Madras the same evening. Interestingly, the
hotel owner is Apollo hospital's Dr Pratap Reddy, a Chandraswami
acolyte. Inside the hotel—which resembled a set out of a detective
movie, with CBI sleuths prowling around with their cellphones—the
godman was talking to Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy. The three-
hour meeting between the former Union commerce minister and the guru
was ostensibly meant to ward off the arrest. Swamy was reportedly
trying to use his friend and former attorney general G. Ramaswamy to
invoke immunity through a 1988 bail order in the same case.

The godman had already summoned a battery of doctors who were ready to
certify his "acute condition of cervical spondilitis". But the CBI
would have none of it. In a move reflecting freshly-found confi-dence,
Mukerjee said that if the godman needed treatment, he would have to
accompany the CBI men to a government hospital. After that,
Chandraswami got into the waiting CBI car without further ado and was
taken to the residence of additional sessions judge S. Sambandam,
where a transit warrant was to be obtained.

The CBI had registered the case against the godman on the basis of a
complaint filed by Lakhu Bhai Pathak in 1988. The agency had
chargesheeted the godman and 'Mamaji' for cheating Pathak through the
false promise of using their influence to secure him a newsprint and
paper pulp contract in India. Since then, nothing much had happened.
As judge Prem Kumar observed in his 17-page order, "investigations had
been going on for years without any tangible results."

Interestingly enough, the preliminary investigations conducted by a
CBI superintendent of police in the Pathak case found the "allegations
to be true". Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Enforcement
Directorate for initiating "necessary action". And the Directorate has
declined to reveal the further course of investigations, claiming
privilege because of the sensitive nature of the case. Now, perhaps,
it will be forced to reveal its hand. The real drama may have just
begun to unfold.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201366

National / Politics Magazine | Apr 03, 1996

Focus

Godman Cornered?

A new PIL pitches Chandraswami in his toughest legal battle yet
Rajesh Joshi

WILL the jet-setting guru Chandraswami be able to wriggle out of this
one? Time seems to be running out for the godman, as the Supreme Court
this week hears a public interest litigation (PIL), originally filed
on September 20, 1995, seeking to appoint a special commission to look
into the charges against him.

The investigating agencies—under fire for allegedly protecting the
godman are hoping to prevent that eventuality.

The petition accuses the investigating agencies of having failed to
take action against the godman in spite of the presence of
overwhelming evidence.

The PIL, originally filed by advocate Anukul Chandra Pradhan, accuses
the agencies of "complete inaction" vis-a-vis the Chandraswami case,
because of his "influential connections". The petition primarily seeks
an expeditious inquiry into the charges against Chandraswami, to be
carried out by special commissioners under the direct supervision of
the court.

The PIL was filed only a few days after the then minister of state for
internal security, Rajesh Pilot, ordered the swami's arrest, following
disclosures by Dawood Ibrahim's hitman, Babloo Srivas-tava, linking
the godman to the Dubai-based don. Subsequently, a human rights
organisation, People's Union for Civil Rights, also sought the apex
court's intervention to book Chandraswami and others in the St Kitts
forgery case. The court directed that all complaints pertaining to
Chandraswami be clubbed together and appointed advocate Anil Divan as
amicus curae. It came down heavily on the CBI, directing it either to
"book or leave" him.

The amended petition highlights the Government's reluctance to take
action against Chandraswami. It says the probe must cover his alleged
FERA and tax violations, the St Kitts forgery case, the Lakhubhai
Pathak cheating case, Babloo Srivastava's allegations and the godman's
links with politicians. The investigating agencies have failed to take
action "in spite of overwhelming material", says the plea.

The fact that the court has taken cognisance of the petition should
set alarm bells ringing. Those said to be closely linked with the
godman are Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Petroleum Minister Captain
Satish Sharma and former minister R.K. Dhawan. All three and former
Union minister K.K. Tewari are named in the FIR in the St Kitts case,
but have not been interrogated. Had the CBI acted vigilantly and
independently, it would have done so, the petition points out.

It goes on to explain how Chandraswami manages, each time, to get over
any crisis—referring to his close proximity to top politicians. To
establish the godman's high connections with politicians like Rao and
former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, the petition quotes from his
own admission before the Jain Commission.

Giving details of the St Kitts forgery case—allegedly plotted by V.P.
Singh's political opponents with the aid of Chandraswami and some
officials of the Directorate of Enforcement (DOE)—the petition pleads
for the confessional statement of the late A.K. Nandy, former DOE
deputy director and an accused to the CBI. The petition says, Nandy's
statement discloses the role played by politicians. It also describes
how the operation was planned by Chandraswami, his aide K.N. Aggarwal
alias Mamaji, Larry Kolb (son-in-law of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi)
and the godman's disciple, Dev Kethu.

Quoting from the FIR lodged on May 25, 1990, the petition observes
that Rao, then external affairs minister, also had a role to play. The
FIR says that Rao called consul general R.K. Rai to his suite at the
United Nations Plaza hotel in New York on October 4, 1989, and told
him to personally attest the documents brought to him by Nandy.

The petition highlights the CBI's reluctance to follow the Babloo
Srivastava case. Contrary to practice, the CBI did not use
Srivastava's claim—that he had stayed at Chandraswami's ashram and
planted a bomb in journalist Rajinder Jain's car to falsely implicate
him at the behest of the godman—in the chargesheet filed in the L.D.
Arora murder case.

This omission by the CBI was intended to prevent the judge from taking
cognisance of it and directing the agency to investigate Chandraswami
for harbouring a criminal. More so, because TADA provisions are
drastic, the petition speculates. Had the statement been filed,
Chandraswami would have been implicated, it adds. In former Union
minister Kalpnath Rai's case, the CBI had filed the statement of
Bombay-based criminal Bhai Thakur, which finally led to the arrest of
Rai and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan.

Meanwhile, Chandraswami is maintaining a stoic silence and—perhaps in
the hope of propitiating the gods—observing the navratri fast.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201123

National Magazine | Feb 21, 1996

Update

By The Grace Of God

The CBI fails to find 'clinching evidence' and recommends that the
case against Chandraswami be closed

Rajesh Joshi

Also In This Story

Update"The Swami Used To Give Us Money"THE various people accused in
the hawala and the Bombay blasts cases have made sensational
allegations against top politicians in the course of their
interrogation by the investi -gating agencies. Only a few of these
have been conclusively proved. But nevertheless, the charges can
provide vital leads. Outlook met Virendra Pant, a close associate of
Dawood's right-hand man Babloo Srivastav, and an accused in the murder
of the Delhi businessman, Lalit Suneja. Pant, who was arrested and
interrogated by the CBI and is currently in Tihar Jail, spoke about
Chandraswami's activities and the goings-on in his Delhi ashram.
Excerpts:

The preliminary inquiry (PE No. 2/S/95) registered last year against
controversial godman Chandraswami is being accorded a quiet burial by
the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI). Last week, the CBI sent a
report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recommending that the
case against the godman be closed.

The orders to arrest the godman had been issued by the then minister
of state for internal security, Rajesh Pilot, in the wake of the
confessions made by Babloo Srivastav, a hired killer, about Chandra-
swami's links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

While arrest warrants are being issued to top politicians, the godman
continues to play wheeler dealer from his ashram.

Following his extradition from Singapore for masterminding the murder
of L.D. Arora, a customs offi-cial, last year, Srivastav had disclosed
to the CBI that Chandraswami had kept him in his ashram in February
1992 when hewas wanted in connection with several criminal cases by
the Uttar Pradesh police. In his statement, Srivastav confessed to
having placed a bomb in the car of Delhi-based journalist Rajendra
Jain at the behest of Chandraswami, along with Virendra Pant and
Sanjay Khanna, members of Dawood's vast underworld network.

Pilot's directive had been precipitated by allegations from the
Opposition that Chan-draswami was not being investigated because he
enjoyed political patronage. The CBI looked into the revelations made
by Sriv-astav, and the godman and his aide Vikram Singh were
interrogated on four occasions. But ultimately, the CBI says it has
found "nothing clinching" against the swami.

However, based on Srivastav's revelations, CBI sleuths interrogated
Pant, Sriva-stav's accomplice in the Jain bomb case. Bureau sources
now confirm that Pant not only corroborated Srivastav's statement but
also gave further information about Chandraswami's activities. But,
for some mysterious reason, Pant's confession was not included in "the
official record". This, despite the fact that the investigating agency
had sought the permission of the Shahdara court to interrogate Pant.

What is even stranger is that after the three-day interrogation at
Delhi's Tihar Jail, the CBI said it was not in a position to pursue
the bomb case and, subsequently,Chandraswami's role in it. The reason:
since the case was originally registered with Delhi's Mandir Marg
Police Station, the agency could investigate the charges only if a
notification transferring the case to the CBI was issued by the MHA.
But the transfer never came. However, following adverse media reports,
the police had to reopen the Jain case and Pant was rearrested. As for
the other allegation against the godman of harbouring Srivastav,
officials now say that it will be very difficult to prove in court
that Chandraswami knowingly sheltered him. Going by the law, the
harbourer can be booked only if it is established that he had
knowledge of crimes committed by the person he was shielding.

Pilot had also ordered an inquiry into Chandraswami's alleged links
with Daw-ood Ibrahim. According to Srivastav, Arora was killed because
he had information about the Bombay blasts. Chandra-swami's harbouring
of Srivastav and former minister Arif Mohammed Khan's claims that he
had pictures of the god-man with Dawood's hitmen, hinted at definite
links. But concrete proof has remained elusive.

And now, Chandraswami, a master of crisis management skills, has
somehow managed to win over a one-time sworn adversary, Somchai
Chaisri Chawla, a Thailand-based NRI.Chawla had accused the godman of
cheating him of $250,000 in March 1995, and the Thailand police had
issued arrest warrants against Chandraswami and Vikram Singh. The NRI
had also complained to the Prime Minister then and had sought the
protection of the Delhi police on the grounds that he was being
harassed and threatened by "one Shri Vikram Singh, a close associate
of Shri Chandraswami.... I am being shadowed. As if Delhi is governed
by the rule of Chandraswami". Surprisingly, Chawla has reportedly done
a volte face and withdrawn all his charges against the godman. Sources
informed that Chawla had filed an affidavit with the Indian Government
last month "supporting Chandraswami." But he has been asked by the
Government to present himself and personally verify the contents of
the affidavit.

And so, at a time when arrest warrants are being issued against top
politicians like Kalp Nath Rai and H.K.L. Bhagat, and cabinet
ministers are compelled to resign on corruption charges, the
globetrotting godman continues to play the "wheeler-dealer" from his
sprawling south Delhi ashram.

Also In This Story

Update

"The Swami Used To Give Us Money"

THE various people accused in the hawala and the Bombay blasts cases
have made sensational allegations against top politicians in the
course of their interrogation by the investi -gating agencies. Only a
few of these have been conclusively proved. But nevertheless, the
charges can provide vital leads. Outlook met Virendra Pant, a close
associate of Dawood's right-hand man Babloo Srivastav, and an accused
in the murder of the Delhi businessman, Lalit Suneja. Pant, who was
arrested and interrogated by the CBI and is currently in Tihar Jail,
spoke about Chandraswami's activities and the goings-on in his Delhi
ashram. Excerpts:

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?200868

National / Politics Magazine | Oct 18, 1995

Spotlight

Spinning A Web Of Fraud

The Chandraswami saga heats up with a series of probes and arrest
warrants. But can the godman be nailed?
Ranjit Bhushan

EVER since the then minister of state for internal security, Rajesh
Pilot, ordered the arrest of Chandraswami, the question which is being
increasingly asked is whether this marks the end of the road for the
controversial godman. Senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office
say PV. Narasimha Rao has given the go-ahead for the law to take its
own course. But as investigating officials plod through the plethora
of charges against the globetrotting godman, it is becoming clear that
it will be extremely difficult to nail him.
For one, except for the charges emanating from the confession of
Babloo Srivastav, a hired killer recently extradited from Singapore,
almost all the charges against Chandraswami relate to alleged frauds
committed outside the country. Investigating officials admit that
frauds are difficult to prove in court. It is also not that easy to
conduct investigations in foreign countries.

In one country, however no real probe is needed to begin with. The
Thailand police have already issued a warrant of arrest against
Chandraswami for allegedly duping a businessman of that country,
Somachandra Chaisiri Chawla. Chawla had complained to the Indian Prime
Minister about the fraud perpetrated on him by Chandraswami way back
in March this year, and Pilot's arrest order was based primarily on
it. But even in this case there are doubts whether the arrest warrant
can be executed because India and Thailand do not have an extradition
treaty.

Along with his complaint to Rao, Chawla had also sought protection
from the Delhi Police. He wrote to Commissioner of Police Nikhil
Kumar: "I have been receiving threatening calls/messages from one Shri
Vikram Singh, who is a close associate of Shri Chandraswami...they
have been claiming that in case I do not succumb to their illegal
demands and do not pass on funds/donation to a political party, I
shall not be able to set up any project in India." He also claimed
that Singh threatened to implicate him in false criminal cases.

The Thai warrant was more specific. Issued against Chandraswami and
Vikram Singh, his Man Friday, it said that Rs 2.4 crore had been paid
to the duo for 'getting' work done on Chawla's Rs 1,000-crore ventures
with the Bangalore Development Authority and the Bangalore Water and
Sewage Board for promoting housing projects and water supply schemes
in Bangalore.

While ordering an inquiry into Chawla's complaint, Pilot asked the CBI
to delve into the entire gamut of cases against Chandraswami,
including his alleged links with the prime accused in the Bombay
blasts case, Dawood Ibrahim. The links had been disclosed during the
CBI's interrogation of Srivastav. But proof of any such link can be
extremely elusive. Though the CBI is reportedly examining his
passport, it does not rule out his having used several identities and
passports. The Foreign Registration and Recording Office in Delhi is
looking at all his photographs taken since 1982.

Former minister Arif Mohammed Khan, who first levelled charges against
Chandraswami when his premises were raided in connection with the Jain
hawala case, claims he has pictures of Chandraswami with Dawood
Ibrahim's hitmen at an American airport. But he says he will only
release these pictures at an appropriate time.

As for Srivastav's claim that he had stayed at Chandraswami's ashram
in February 1992, it should not ruffle the probing the cases against
Chandraswami.

Most of the cases abroad relate to frauds. Chandi Suryavali, a local
leader of Indian origin from Paramribo in Surinam, had registered a
case of alleged fraud against the godman in 1986. According to the
details of the Intimation of Unlawful Activities--the Surinamese
version of an FIR--Suryavali had paid him $1 million for setting up
business ventures in India under the aegis of the Surinam Non-Resident
Indian Association. But once he got the money, Chandraswami reportedly
did the vanishing act. The complaint was sent to the Ministry of
External Affairs n 1987 but did not evoke much response from the
Indian Government, except for a cursory "we are examining the issue".

But Pilot's offensive has certainly set the cat among the pigeons.
This round of dirt-digging exercises includes an investigation into
Chandraswami's apartment at Olympic Towers Officials say the apartment
may have been used to entertain influential guests from India, which
may explain the godman's political clout.

The CBI is also chasing up another old case of cheating, this time in
London. According to the details of the case, Chandraswami and his
secretary, K.N. Agrawal, known as Mamaji, cheated an NRI, Lakhu Bhai
Pathak, of $100,000 on the pretext that the accused would use his
influence to secure newsprint and paper pulp supply contracts from the
Government of India. "Even after long persuasion, there was no
response from the accused either to secure the contracts or to return
the money given by the complainant (Pathak)," the CBI document says,
admitting that any further progress would be very difficult. "It has
not been possible to complete this investigation due to the refusal of
foreign witnesses for examination and non-receipt of relevant
documents," it notes.

The catalogue of the thorns in the swami's side is growing. Babloo
Srivastav's lawyers, V.K. Ohri and H.A. Alvi, are especially keen to
see him implicated in a 1991 case of a fatal bomb attack on Delhi-
based Journalist Ravindra Jain. The Jain commission probing the Rajiv
Gandhi assassination decided to look into an Akali leader, Mahant Seva
Dass' claim that the godman was one of the main conspirators.

In the welter of charges that are now seeing the light of day, people
remain cynical as to what the CBI or any other agency can really do.
Especially if the St Kitts investigation is anything to go by. "This
man has known all prime ministers except V.P. Singh," says the Janata
Dal's Ram Vilas Paswan. Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar,
however, maintains there is not much behind the screaming headlines.
"The law takes its own course. It is not dictated by headlines," he
says.

The experience of former joint director of the CBI, N.K. Singh is
quite different though. Singh remembers how he was abruptly taken off
the case and transferred out of the agency when he started issuing
notices to Chandraswami in early 1991. In his special leave petition
before the Supreme Court, Singh recalls the number of times Chandra
Shekhar and the then law minister, Subramanian Swamy, personally
intervened to have the case scuttled. And that is exactly what
happened in the end.

Chandraswami's saviours, if a list is drawn, far outnumber those
gunning for him. So if liquor baron Vijay Mallya offers his personal
aircraft for the godman's use, Chief Election Commissioner T.N.
Seshan, despite Iris all-out war against corruption in high places,
thinks nothing of meeting him publicly.

Leading saffron lights Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Vijayaraje Scindia
also, count among his ardent camp followers. And earlier this year the
Communist Party of India (M) publicly ridiculed its high profile MP,
Amal Dutta, for attending the godman's birthday bash; Dutta, who is
West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu' nephew, is unlikely to get a
party ticket in the next general elections. Chandraswami's relations
with arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi extended to the Iran-Contra deal,
details of which became public later once American involvement in it
was established.

As Vineet Narain, owner of a video-magazine and one of the first to
carry exposes on the godman, says: "it something still happens to
Chandraswami, all I can say is that the Prime Minister has given up on
him. But to see that happening is wishful at this stage."

A telling example of Chandraswami's clout is that the team of CBI
sleuths is 'interrogating' him at his ashram, and not at the CBI
headquarters. And at the doorsteps of the ashram, Janata Party
President Subramanian Swamy beams: "No charges can be proved. It is
all being engineered by the Congress(T)." If that confidence is
anything to go by, the godman seems to be oil a good wicket.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?200039

http://www.outlookindia.com/peoplefnl.aspx?pid=8886&author=Chandraswami

National / Politics / Interviews Magazine | Aug 07, 1996

Focus

'Sweeper Or PM, A Crime Is A Crime'

Lakhubhai Pathak the NRI businessman who has made allegations of fraud
against Narasimha Rao and Chandraswami, began an 'indefinite' fast on
July 25 in Bombay 'to force' the former prime minister to tell the
truth. He called it off the following morning, on the advice of his
newly discovered guide G.R. Khairnar—the recently sacked civic
official, who earlier ran a crusade against Sharad Pawar. Pathak spoke
to Lekha Rattanani after he called off his fast. Excerpts from the
interview

Lekha Rattanani Interviews Lakhubhai Pathak

Also In This Story

Focus
New Man, New Impetus?
With a Deve Gowda man the new CBI chief, the agency may change its
overt pro-Rao stance
Rajesh Joshi

According to Narasimha Rao, he was not present at the Haloram House
hotel in New York when you say you met him.

The meeting took place 13 years ago. I don't remember the exact date.
But that does not change the facts. It was sometime before Christmas.
I remember I went to El Paso after this meeting , and then to Mexico
for Christmas.

So when exactly was the meeting with Rao?

It happened a few days before Christmas—between the 18th and the 23rd.
Had I known how important the meeting would turn out to be, I would
have recorded it or called in a cameraman. Rao met me in
Chandraswami's room.

According to Rao's counsel, Kapil Sibal, there is no entry in the
former prime minister's passport to show he was in New York.

Was he (Rao) an ordinary traveller or was he travelling on a
diplomatic passport? It is not my job but the job of the investigating
agencies to find out if he was actually there. Passports can be messed
around with. Anything can happen in India. We can buy ministers like
we buy vegetables. They have fooled the country, now they are fooling
the court.

Some of the witnesses whom you said were present at the meeting—Muscat-
based businessman Umesh Khimji and Ashwin Patel, the businessman from
Leceister, have denied being there. So, were they actually present?

They were eight to ten people. I have already given their names to the
court. I had told the magistrate that I cannot reveal their names
without their permission. I didn't want to offend them or create any
problems for them. I was told by the magistrate that hiding anything
is equivalent to lying. Now they are denying they were present and I
don't have to force them to speak the truth.

One of the witnesses, Maharashtra minister Suresh Jain, said he didn't
know you then and that Rao was not present.

It is an absolute lie. Politicians are people who can change their
statements like other people change their clothes. They have no
conscience.

How did you enter into a contract to supply newsprint and paper pulp
when it isn't your line of business?

The contract was a trap. I was in the pickle line, in no way in
paper.

But what about the money you paid to Chandraswami? Wasn't that a
bribe?

A bribe taken is a crime. So is a bribe given. Let the court decide
whether this is a crime. I paid $100,000 in two cheques, drawn on the
Canadian Imperial Bank, to Chandraswami. I am prepared to face any
sentence if I am proved guilty. A crime is a crime whether it's
committed by a sweeper, king or prime minister.

Are you certain the man you met in the hotel was Rao?

I didn't know Rao till he came into Chandraswami's room. But he has a
face that can't be forgotten.

What exactly did Rao say to you?

Chandraswami brought Rao to his room. Suresh Jain and others were
present. All of us got up and greeted him. Chandraswami introduced me
to Rao saying: "Yeh hamare Pathakji hain. Yeh bahuth bada
industrialist hai." Rao turned to me and said: "Chandraswami has told
me everything. Your work will be done." I was thrilled because I was
the only one in the room who was introduced to him. Suresh Jain said I
was lucky to have managed an introduction. This is the whole truth.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray says that you are keen to join his
party.

I want to be a Shiv Sainik and be of service to the people. I know the
Shiv Sena from the time I had a pickle factory in Andheri in 1974-75.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201873

National Magazine | Dec 22, 2003

Sanjoy Ghosh

haryana

'Godman Gave The Slit-Throat Sign...'

That's how Chandraswami threatened the IAS officer who blew the
whistle on Chautala's teacher scam

Chander Suta Dogra

A little after 7.30 pm on October 22, Chandraswami, Delhi's infamous
godman and political wheeler-dealer, had an unusual visitor. Ushered
into his presence was Sanjiv Kumar, the 1985 batch IAS officer and
whistle-blower-in-chief of the schoolteacher recruitment scam in
Haryana. It was on his petition that the Supreme Court on November 25
ordered a CBI inquiry into alleged attempts by Haryana CM Om Prakash
Chautala and his office to substitute genuine selection lists with
fake ones for appointment of primary teachers in 19 districts.
"Mr Chautala was built up as a ruthless man whom I should be very
frightened of."

The attempt was to effect 2,000 new appointments. Though there's no
official confirmation, it's alleged that Rs 1 lakh was demanded from
each candidate.

The October 22 meeting with Chandraswami was meant to force Kumar into
entering into a compromise and withdraw the demand for a CBI probe and
accept an inquiry by a divisional commissioner. The godman spoke to
him for about eight minutes. The contents of that conversation,
secretly recorded by Kumar and given to the Supreme Court for
safekeeping, is giving sleepless nights to many in Haryana, especially
Chautala.

The godman may be down and out in Delhi, but he's playing an active
role in neighbouring Haryana, threatening to get "the throat slit" of
people like Kumar. Recalls Kumar: "Two minutes into the conversation
with Chandraswami and I realised he was handing out threats on behalf
of chief minister Chautala who's one of the respondents in my
petition." Though the apex court has ordered a CBI inquiry into the
case and Kumar has been provided protection by the Delhi Police, he is
still a scared and harried man. Says he: "I'm worried that what
happened to Satyendra Dubey (the whistle-blower in the Golden
Quadrangle highway contracts scam who was murdered in Patna three
weeks ago) might also happen to me."

The officer spoke exclusively to Outlook about the meeting with
Chandraswami, which he recorded on the tape.

"The godman said I should think of what'll happen when police
protection is taken off."

"After a few preliminary remarks, Chandraswami said I should think of
what'll happen when police protection is taken off after a few months.
He then placed his hand on his throat and ran it like how a butcher
would. I asked him, 'Maar bhi sakte hain (You mean, get killed)?' and
he replied, 'Woh kuch bhi kar sakte hain (He can do anything)'."
According to Kumar, he was advised by the godman to be wary of
Chautala. "Mr Chautala was built up as a tough and ruthless man whom I
should be very frightened of. Chandraswami also reminded me of how
former PM Chandrashekhar was laid up in hospital with a heart ailment
after the treatment meted out to him by Chautala when the former's
Bhondsi farmhouse in Gurgaon district was taken back by the state
government."

The godman, according to Kumar, continued in a similar vein:
"Chandraswami said 'Chautala will institute more cases against you and
your career will be ruined'." He also apparently warned Kumar to keep
away from Karan Singh Dalal, RPI MLA from Palwal (a bitter critic of
Chautala), saying "he's a finished man". When Kumar asked whether he
(Kumar) too could be killed?, the godman reportedly said: "Main kya
keh sakta hoon (What can I say?)."

A couple of days later, Kumar was summoned again to Chandraswami's
ashram. This time two candidates, whose names are in the second list
(allegedly fake), were also present. In a separate petition to the
court, they had pleaded their selection was genuine. Their petition
gave damaging details of the place and time when an officer in the
CM's office called them to Delhi's Haryana Bhavan and demanded money
from them. Chandraswami was trying to get them to withdraw their
case.

As for Kumar, he was given another dose of Chandraswami's threats
which also he recorded. Recalls the IAS officer: "He repeatedly
threatened me with dire consequences if I did not heed his
warning.Eventually, I asked him, 'Swamiji what should I do?' and he
replied, 'Samjhauta kar lo (work out a compromise)'. I told him that I
would do so. The fact that I had agreed to a compromise was apparently
passed on by Chandraswami to the CM because at the next hearing of the
case on November 3, the Haryana government counsel offered to get the
matter inquired into by a divisional commissioner. They were quite
taken aback when I opposed this offer and stuck to my original plea
for a CBI investigation." The SC order directed the CBI to take charge
of the tapes as well as the two lists of selected teachers, which were
till then kept in the court's custody.

But why did Kumar agree to meet Chandraswami? Ever since it became
clear the apex court was likely to order an inquiry, he began getting
threats on his phone. Eventually, he told the anonymous caller that it
would be better if he came out in the open and talked. A few minutes
later, he got a call from a person claiming to be the swami's
secretary. He said, "Swamiji would like to meet urgently. It's
something of your interest." Says Kumar, "At that point I was quite
demoralised and virtually at my wits' end. I agreed. But I took the
precaution of telling my wife that if I did not return in an hour she
should inform the police," says Kumar.

Trouble began for Kumar in July 2000 when he was appointed director,
primary education, by the newly elected Chautala government. According
to the facts as stated in the October 25 apex court judgement,
applications for recruiting 3,206 teachers were invited in November
1999. And on the basis of interviews held in 19 districts, a list of
selected candidates was finalised. The outgoing director, Rajni Sekhri
Sibal, kept the lists in a cupboard and sealed it. The key to the
cupboard too was put in a sealed and signed envelope. When Kumar took
charge, he was "pressurised" into substituting another list in place
of the original list. He refused.

In September 2000, all members of the 19 district selection committees
were called to Panchkula and then to Haryana Bhavan in Delhi. Fresh
and false lists of candidates were prepared and the members were
forced to sign this list. On September 28, 2000, this list was handed
over to Kumar with a directive that it should immediately be
substituted for the original list. Instead, Kumar, on November 7,
2000, opened the sealed cupboard and released the original list. These
candidates were then appointed. And within a month of that he was
transferred.

But he took the precaution of taking the "fake" list with him. And
then the nightmare began. His flat in Sector 19, Chandigarh, was
broken into. He began receiving threats. He was denied promotion twice
and put under suspension. Soon after that the government registered
two corruption cases against him, which also come under the ambit of
the CBI investigation.

It's two years since he was suspended and he has been managing to keep
the home fires burning with the help of family and friends. "The
government has not given me even the subsistence allowance of 50 per
cent of my salary," Kumar says. Justice is still a long way off for
him because the CBI investigation into the case could drag on for some
time. But it takes courage to blow the whistle. And Kumar is
determined to keep up his dogged fight as long as he can.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?222426

National Magazine | Jul 20, 1998

Exclusive

Finally All Fingers Point To A Foreign Hand

The Jain Commission's final report focuses on a larger international
conspiracy, and the CIA-Mossad-LTTE link, in the Rajiv killing
Charu Lata Joshi

Also In This Story

Exclusive

Mossad Missives
Ex-Cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah told Jain of the Israel link

Exclusive
Damning Intercepts
Wireless messages indicate the LTTE wasn't acting in isolation

Exclusive
The BCCI Channel
Jain says Chandraswami linked up with BCCI through Khashoggi

FOR seven rambling years, the Jain Commission of Inquiry—set up to
unravel the larger conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's May 21, 1991,
assassination—has stumbled from one controversy to another. The
Commission's interim report, tabled in Parliament last year, led to
the fall of the United Front government—it had pointed fingers at its
coalition partner, the DMK, for harbouring the LTTE, thus creating
conditions which facilitated the assassination.
"The possibility of a foreign hand behind the LTTE in the Rajiv
assasination is trengthened."

It had also come down heavily on the V.P. Singh government for
ignoring the security threat to Rajiv.

The final report charts a markedly different course. Volume II,
covering chapters I to VI, widens the ambit beyond the immediate
circumstances to emphasise a larger, international plot. Foreign
intelligence agencies like the CIA and Mossad, and leaders of some
Sikh extremist organisations step in as the new dramatis personae. The
report says they actively collaborated with the LTTE and key Indian
individuals in the period immediately preceding the assassination. The
eight-volume set, 14 chapters in all—accessed by Outlook—was submitted
to the home ministry on March 7 this year.

Curiously, even as he lambasts the work of the CBI's Special
Investigation Team—devoting an entire volume to its investigational
lapses—Jain appears to have considerably toned down his earlier stand
on the complicity of the DMK and has instead concentrated on the
'foreign' angle. But there are specific recommendations for the
prosecution of certain members of the DMK, PMK, and DK, who were
earlier chargesheeted in the assassination of EPRLF chief K.
Padmanabha in Chennai in 1990.

The report is not without its Indian angle. Startling depositions and
intelligence intercepts included in the report indicate that Dr
Subramanian Swamy and former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, in
different ways, may have had prior knowledge of a threat to Rajiv but
did not react in a "timely manner".

"CIA seems to have a track record of destabilising governments while
indulging in assassination plots."

At the same time, Jain appears to have pulled his punches in
recommending any further probe into the charges against these two
politicians.

What emerges finally is a picture of a well-networked international
plot and certain key Indians, cast in varying degrees of complicity,
who had 'knowledge' of the plan. Whether Home Ministry officials, who
are studying the report, will be able to take any action on these
findings for presenting the Action Taken Report in Parliament during
this session remains in the realm of speculation. For now, the report,
with its explosive annexures and wild-card theories, has the potential
of stirring up yet another political maelstrom.

THE FOREIGN HAND: What is the foreign hand referred to in the final
report? The depositions and intelligence inputs from RAW and IB have
led Justice Jain to infer that the Tamil Tigers couldn't have operated
in isolation. In fact, he barely stops short of concluding that it was
just the hired executor—a point Jain had touched upon in his interim
report. Notes Jain: "The LTTE may be having its own financial
resources but to acquire such high-tech weaponry, financial help and
help in the form of shipment of arms, which are referred to in IB
reports, cannot be ruled out. The possibility of a foreign hand behind
the LTTE in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi can't be ruled out,
rather it is strengthened." The wireless intercepts (see box) clinches
the fact that LTTE operatives like K.

"...there were moves to remove Rajiv and the hand of Chandraswami has
been established."

Padmanabha had links with the CIA and that the US intelligence agency
assisted the Tigers in arms procurement and other operations. The LTTE
was networked with international agencies and these could have helped
them in the plot to kill Rajiv.

To establish the foreign link, the report quotes telegram No. 24 (CCB)/
20537 of September 11, 1991—sent to the Ministry of External Affairs
by the Indian Ambassador in Tunis, containing a key tipoff he got from
PLO president Yasser Arafat. It was conveyed that "Yasser Arafat had
information that Rajiv's enemies would use the election period to get
rid of him. He got this information from inside Israel and his
European sources. These sources mentioned that the LTTE and Sikh
extremists would try to harm Rajiv Gandhi. Besides the above three,
hostile forces from outside India may also make an attempt."

A recorded note on the talk between the then foreign secretary
Muchkund Dubey and the Palestinian ambassador in India, dated June 6,
1991, included in the final report reads: "The Palestinian ambassador
told me that they had seen the movement of Mos-sad agents in India,
including towards Madras. He said that if one was looking for a link,
it was the CIA/Mossad/LTTE link. He further stated that the culprit
could have been one of the women related or associated with the five
LTTE leaders who had killed themselves after taking cyanide soon after
the commencement of the IPKF operation."

Justice Jain gives considerable import to the Arafat input.

"Swamy spoke of the possibility of Prabhakaran having been financed
for the job..."

"I find the information furnished by Yasser Arafat genuine and there
is no reason to disbelieve it.... From the note of Shri Muchkund Dubey
and the CCB telegram, it is amply borne out that there was an
international plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and that it was a
Mossad/LTTE/CIA link."

Statements from Dubey's successor J.N. Dixit, Sonia Gandhi as well as
details gleaned from RAW and IB have been woven into the report to
shore up the information the PLO chief had passed on to Indian
authorities. Dixit's deposition finds prominence in the report:
"Arafat is right in stating that he had sources within Israel and well-
established sources in Europe. This information conveyed in the
telegram must have been cross-checked by the field units of RAW under
directives of their headquarters."

"There must have been operatives of the CIA and Mossad in India during
1990-91.... The likelihood of Rajiv coming back to power might have
been viewed with some reservations, not so much by the US government
itself but by segments of the US defence and Intelligence
establishment in the context of Rajiv Gandhi's opposition regarding
refuelling facilities provided by India for US Air Force planes during
the Gulf War," adds the ex-foreign secretary.

Similarly, in her statement to the Commission, Sonia Gandhi confirms
that "it is a fact that Arafat sent my husband messages through the
Palestinian mission in India saying that they had learnt of the
threats to his life. This was reconfirmed to me and my children
personally by Arafat when he met us soon after my husband's funeral.
There were several other occasions when he received similar
information."

RAW too provided the Commission with inputs, which it had shared with
IB, on the activities of Mossad and CIA in India in the year
immediately preceding the assassination. The final report mentions
Amos Radia and Giorce Betchar as agents operating for the Israelis in
India. As regards CIA activities in India, RAW had informed the IB
that two suspected US intelligence officers were in India in the
months preceding the killing.

A study of the post-Gulf war scenario in West Asia conducted by RAW,
which was communicated to the PMO, then cabinet secretary Naresh
Chandra, then foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey, IB, the Naval
Headquarters and then Air Force chief S.K. Mehra, clearly stated:
"International terrorism will get a fillip and we can expect terrorist
strikes against soft targets in India. Considerable vigil will have to
be exercised."

While Jain has gone to great lengths to establish the foreign hand,
he has also indicted intelligence agencies like RAW for not taking a
serious view of information that came its way. The report says: "RAW's
conclusion on Arafat's information requires deeper examination.
Nothing has been said about the possible involvement of the CIA which
may operate through Mossad in the light of Rajiv Gandhi's utterances
during the Gulf War opposing refuelling facilities to the US."

Further, Jain writes, "the CIA seems to have a track-record of covert
operations for desta-bilising governments while indulging in
assassination plots or otherwise as reported in the print media.... It
is in this background of the CIA's alleged track-record that Arafat's
utterances have to be evaluated."

THE report notes that, "Kumaran Padmanabha's (KP) account in BCCI,
Bombay branch, prima facie establishes links of the LTTE with the
bank. Unless material from the Senate subcommittee is gathered, it
will not be proper to conclude that the BCCI funds were not made
available in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.... The
material which has come before the Commission raises a very strong
possibility of such help from some individuals and agencies since it
is well established that KP was the LTTE's international arms
procurer."

Despite all the information pieced together, the report is short on
specifics and does little to flesh out the precise manner in which the
foreign hand purportedly worked. The veil of mystery that shrouds the
Rajiv killing remains. Jain indicates how the LTTE conspired with
foreign agents/agencies to carry out the assassination, but provides
only a vague delineation of possible motives. As things stand, it is
doubtful whether the MEA (which has been given charge of investigating
the international link) will be able to come up with anything.

THE INDIAN CONNECTION: Justice Jain has devoted separate chapters to
three key Indian players who are suspected, one way or the other, to
have had prior knowledge of the assassination. Nothing definitive or
conclusive here, but Jain has woven in intriguing loops of
circumstantial evidence—quoted and contained in the annexures—around
godman Chandraswami, Janata Party leader Dr Subramanian Swamy and
former PM Chandra Shekhar. The three are bracketed, prima facie, as
either having a link with those who allegedly conspired with the
assassins or at least having been privy to the fact of a plot.

The link between Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy has been taken
seriously by Jain in the light of Chandra-swami's deposition: "I know
Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy have been very thick for the
last 7-8 years. Dr Swamy told me that I (Chandraswami) may persuade
Rajiv Gandhi to make Chandra Shekhar the PM." Working within this
framework, the Commission has read much into the independent
testimonies of a host of witnesses—wherever they overlap—and arrived
at certain conclusions.

For instance, Justice Jain concludes that Akali leader Mahant Sewa
Dass's deposition stands corroborated by evidence provided by RAW.
Dass was sent as Chandra Shekhar's emissary to meet Khalistan
proponent Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan in London. He had deposed that at the
meeting a plot to eliminate Rajiv was being hatched jointly by Babbar
Khalsa militants and a representative of the LTTE (R.M. Pradi)—and
that the project was to be financed by Chandraswami. Jain says: "It is
fully established that Mahant Sewa Dass went to London, met Dr Chohan
in the presence of some persons, conveyed the message of Chandra
Shekhar and brought back a letter from Dr Chohan addressed to Shri
Chandra Shekhar."

The letter also finds a place in government records and reads:

"Dear Mr Chandra Shekharji,
Namaskar!

Mahantji discussed quite a few but very important things with me. I
very much appreciate your initiative in Punjab. I am sure it will help
to pacify the violence in Punjab. Mahantji will give you the details
of our discussion on various aspects. Talks are the only way to
resolve the problems.
More on hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan"
According to the report, "RAW confirms the meeting and that almost all
the active pro-Khalistan groups were represented in the meeting. It
also says that the main purpose of Mahant Sewa Dass's sojourn was to
find out the pro-Khalistani elements on a possible peace package
acceptable to them which could then be projected as an achievement of
the Government of India as a successful attempt to bring back the
Sikhs abroad into the national mainstream.... However, a contemporary
inquiry should have been made and the report should have been sent to
the PM."

The Commission also has on record a communication UO.No 3/5/88-VS,
dated July 21, 1988, in which RAW mentioned reports indicating that Dr
Chohan was trying to establish contact with the LTTE in the UK. Also,
"government records show that Mahant Sewa Dass was sent by the
government as an emissary of Chandra Shekhar to meet Dr Chohan. His
arrangements for travel were made by the government."

According to Jain, "From the perusal of various statements, it is
evident that the relations of Chandraswami did exist, not only with
Rao but also with Chandra Shekhar, Subrama-nian Swamy and O.P.
Chautala. However, no inference of complicity can be drawn, although
the surveillance at 10, Janpath and the statement of Saifullah may
give rise to some doubts."

As for Chandraswami, the circle of suspicion is wider. His links with
the LTTE as well as international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (see
box) have been established. Notes Jain: "The evidence and material
does point an accusing finger at Chandraswami and circumstances which
have come before the Commission raise a doubt regarding his
involvement in the assassination. Taking the entire evidence, material
and circumstantial, brought on record, a serious doubt arises
regarding Chandraswami's complicity and involvement. So the matter
requires a further probe.... There is a plethora of evidence on record
in the form of testimony of Buta Singh, S.S. Mahapatra, B.G. Deshmukh
and others which proves that there were moves to remove Rajiv Gandhi
and the hand of Chandraswami in these moves has been clearly
established."

Many witnesses have attested to the godman's dubious links with
international agencies. Ramesh Dalal, BJP activist, deposed that he
knew "Shri Chandraswami has relations with the CIA, Mossad and the
LTTE. He took the help of these agencies in assassinating Rajiv
Gandhi.... In the core group of Chandraswami, Rajendra Jain, Babloo
Srivastava, K.N. Aggarwal, Subramanian Swamy, Chandra Shekhar, O.P.
Chautala and Pinaki Misra were there. The people of this core group
used to meet Chandraswami in his bedroom. Chandraswami told me he had
been financing the LTTE..."

The report says: "It is noteworthy that when he (Ramesh Dalal) had
expressed his doubts regarding the involvement of Chandraswami as
early as August 1991, investigations should have been conducted.
Outrightly rejecting his testimony would not be a proper course and a
thorough investigation is required to be made about the truth or
otherwise of his testimony. Some support is available...from the
deposition of Mahant Sewa Dass Singh."

As for Swamy, the Commission interweaves various independent
depositions and pieces of evidence to flesh out his links with the god-
man and international agencies as well as his role as an intermediary.
The report notes that Swamy had made a trip to London in 1995 with
Chandraswami—they both stayed at Halkin Hotel and the bill was picked
up by the godman.

Going back to the period before the killing, Jain cites the then
cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah's statement that "there were some
intercepts emanating from Israel for information to Chandraswami and
Swamy for Jaffna. These intercepts have not come before the
Commission. If Saifullah's statement is correct, then the intercepts
would have thrown much more light on the question of complicity."

THE report adds: "A serious doubt has also been cast by E. Velusami
who has filed an affidavit before the Commission..." Velusami, then
general secretary of the Janata Party in Tamil Nadu, had deposed that
his party president had arrived "in the morning at Madras airport by a
flight from Delhi on Sunday, May 19, 1991." Elections in the state
were set for May 26. "Swamy's whereabouts became unknown on May 21
morning. He subsequently learnt he had spent May 21 morning in a hotel
called Trident near the airport and that he had met some persons
there....

It is not clear why he made this secret stay in Madras on May 21,
1991, that too, after suddenly cancelling his pre-settled programme of
going to Delhi from Madras and without any information to his
colleagues..." Swamy's itinerary was confirmed by the personal
secretary to the ex-minister, writes Jain. He gives credence to the
testimony of Aziz Haniffa, Washington bureau chief of India Abroad, in
which he states that "during an interview with Swamy, the latter
claimed it was he who was instrumental in introducing the LTTE to the
Israelis, which led to their training by Mossad."

Similarly, former Rajya Sabha MP Rajani Ranjan Sahu deposed that in
1994 Dr Swamy told him and two others at the Tamil Nadu governor's
house that the LTTE was hired for the job. He claimed Prabhakaran
ordered the assassination after entering into a Rs 100-crore deal. He
also revealed that "one W. Anderson, first secretary in the American
Embassy, was anti-Rajiv" and that intelligence officials had got wind
of the plot. Jain, at the same time, seems to suspend judgement on the
episode: "From the statements of Sahu, Jitendra Prasada and Rajiv
Shukla, it is borne out that they happened to meet Dr Swamy in the
drawing room of the Governor's house and that... Dr Swamy spoke of the
possibility of V. Prabhakaran having been financed for the job which
might have motivated him for the assassination.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205868

...and I am Sid Harth

== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 3:00 pm
From: bademiyansubhanallah

This page contains information The Rick A. Ross Institute has
gathered about Sathya Sai Baba.

Visit Sathya Sai Baba's Official Web Site
(Link takes you outside the Rick A. Ross Institute web site)
http://www.sathyasai.org/

Sathya Sai Baba, "God"
or "sexual predator"?

Atheist Karuna woos godman in TN
Times Now, India/May 9, 2007
By Dhanya Rajendran

He may be one of the country's best known atheists, but when it comes
to funding state projects, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi
does not mind the help of spiritual gurus. The Satya Sai trust has
agreed to fund a project which will provide drinking water to parched
Chennai. And Karunanidhi is only too happy to welcome the godman.

Till a few years ago, it was unthinkable that Karunanidhi would ever
share a dais with Satya Sai Baba, however at a public appearance with
the spiritual Guru in January this year, Karunanidhi asked Sai Baba's
help for developmental projects. Now Sri Satya Sai Trust has agreed to
upgrade the 25 km-long Kandaleru-Poondi canal, which will bring water
to Chennai.

Karunanidhi may not believe in God, but as analysts say, he has proved
to be a tactful politician.

"He is an atheist at a personal level, and when he shared a dais with
Sai Baba, he explained his stand saying the question was not whether
he believed in God, but whether he was worthy of God's trust. But at a
more practical level, I buy his point From whichever source the money
comes, and as long as it is not tainted, it is welcome," remarked S
Murari, a political analyst.

The chief minister has kept aside his radical beliefs for good reason;
With the states finances running dry due to the numerous sops given by
his government, Karunanidhi desperately needs funds. Now that the Baba
trust has entered into a partnership with the government, the big
question is whether they will undertake the Coovum river-cleaning
project.

"Cleaning the Coovum is my dream, but I will need your help. It has
been quoted as a Rs 1,000 crore project. I'm not asking for the whole
amount, but I will be happy if you donate the same," is M
Karunanidhi's request.

This is, definitely, an image makeover. But the chief minister's
tolerance towards religious matters are limited to accepting help to
develop his state. When it comes to clashes between believers and non-
believers within the state, Karunanidhi always sticks to his
ideologies.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba24.html

Spiritual guru criticised for opposing statehood for Telangana region
Gulf Times/January 23, 2007

Hyderabad -- People went on a rampage here yesterday in protest
against spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba who said he was against a
separate Telangana state.

His followers meanwhile called a shutdown in Puttaparthi town of
Anantapur district to condemn remarks on the guru.

Shouting slogans against him, dozens of students belonging to
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) barged into a Sai Baba temple near
Osmania University here, pulled down huge cut-outs of the guru and
burnt them.

An effigy of Sai Baba, who termed moves to bifurcate the state
'mahapapam' (great sin), was also burnt.

Addressing a function in Chennai on Sunday, Sai Baba said there was no
demand for a separate Telangana state from the people of the region.

"Dividing the people or the country is not good. Bifurcating the state
is mahapapam," he said.

Sai Baba, who preaches love, understanding and universal brotherhood,
has thousands of followers in India and abroad including several heads
of state, politicians, military officials, judges, film stars and
sportsmen.

During the last few decades, he has built a vast empire worth billions
of rupees transforming the small village of Puttaparthi, his
birthplace, into a modern town with a state-of-the-art airport,
education and health facilities.

The reaction to his comments was sharp from the protagonists of
separate Telangana. TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao asked Sai Baba
to confine himself to religion. "Is Sai Baba blind to the suicides by
farmers in Telangana region? Is he blind to the fact that the region
was subjected to exploitation?" asked Rao, who is leading the movement
for a separate state comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad.

Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yaskhi Goud wondered what Sai Baba
knew of the problems of Telangana.

"He is from Rayalseema region and what does he know about the problem
of fluorosis (an abnormal condition caused by excessive intake of
fluorine), in Nalgonda? He is funding the water projects for
Rayalseema and Chennai," said Goud.

Revolutionary balladeer and Maoist sympathiser Gaddar, who is also
actively participating in the movement for separate Telangana,
criticised Sai Baba for opposing the demand.

Meanwhile, a shutdown was being observed in Puttaparthi town in
Anantapur district to condemn the remarks of Telangana leaders against
Sai Baba.

Shops and business establishment were shut and Sai Baba's disciples
set afire effigies of Chandrasekhara Rao, Madhu Yashki Goud and
Gaddar. The streets around Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Baba, wore
a deserted look.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba23.html

Satya Sai Baba caught in British controversy
Indo-Asian News Service/December 22, 2006

Satya Sai Baba, one of India's best known spiritual leaders, has
triggered a fresh controversy in Britain after association with The
Duke of Edinburgh's Award charity involving young people.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a London-headquartered charity whose
patron is Prince Philip.

It gives three kinds of awards (bronze, silver and gold) to anyone
aged between 14-25 for achievements in four categories: community
service, skills, physical recreation and expeditions. Each year it is
estimated that over 2,25,000 youngsters vie for the honour in Britain
alone.

This year, when the charity celebrates its 50th year, it has chosen to
send about 200 young volunteers to India to work with the Sri Satya
Sai Organisation.

However, the feat, pulled off by Sai Youth UK, a division of the
parent body, has created a furore. Several people, including some of
the Satya Sai Baba's former Western disciples, questioned the decision
in view of the mixed reputation the godman enjoys. Sai's devotees deny
the allegations.

The Guardian was the first to raise its voice saying the award scheme
had chosen as its accredited partner a spiritual group "whose 'living
god' founder has been accused of sexually abusing young boys".

Satya Sai Baba hit bad press in Britain two years ago when a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, interviewed young Western disciples who
alleged that the godman had sexually coerced them.

The Guardian quoted Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and
chairman of Fair, a cult-watching and victim support group, as saying:
"It is appallingly naive for the award scheme to involve young people
and the royal family with an organisation whose leader is accused of
paedophilia. Parents who plan to send their children on this
pilgrimage... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."

The daily also said Michael Gave, a conservative MP, planned to write
to the charity to say it should monitor the organisations they chose
as partners more strictly.

"As a society we need a more determined effort to identify and expose
those religious cults and extremists that pose a direct threat to
people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that should be directed
elsewhere," he was quoted as saying.

In the 1990s, when Prince Charles visited India, he had expressed a
desire to visit the Sai Baba but was quietly dissuaded by the British
Embassy in New Delhi.

Since The Guardian's article, it was reported that there was mounting
pressure on the charity to distance itself from the Sai group.

However, charity spokesperson Shona Taylor did not answer repeated
queries as to whether the volunteers had left for India and how they
could be contacted.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba22.html

A holy furore rages in Britain
Daily News Analysis/November 5, 2006
By Ginnie Mahajan

Delhi: Old allegations of sexual abuse of boys by spiritual guru
Sathya Sai Baba have created a fresh furore in Britain.

The issue snowballed after the British press reported that 200 boys
would visit India on a month-long humanitarian pilgrimage starting
November 13, organised by the Sai Youth Movement, a division of the
Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.

These boys are to receive the Duke of Edinburgh award for their
humanitarian work. According to the Guardian, the British public is
irked by two issues — safety of the boys at Sathya Sai Baba's ashram
at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and the
involvement of royalty with the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.

The newspaper quotes a former home office minister Tom Sackville, who
also runs a victim support group, as saying, "It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia."

Interestingly, the United States Department of State has a travel
advisory against the Sathya Sai Organisation: "US citizens should be
aware that there have been unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual
behaviour by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or
religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh."

The Guardian says US state officials have confirmed that this is a
direct reference to Sathya Sai Baba. There have been rumours for years
that the spiritual guru, who calls himself an incarnation of god,
molested young devotees during interviews. Both Indian and foreign
visitors to the ashram have come on record to say how he has abused
them.

The public relations officer of Sathya Sai Baba's ashram, however,
told DNA: "We do not care what the advisory says. People and
organisations can write whatever they want to believe. We have no more
to say on this issue. Yes, the boys are coming to India in about two
weeks' time."

The visit coincides with Sathya Sai Baba's 80th birthday. He had
apparently given a 'divine commandment' to the Sai Youth Movement to
visit him on the occasion.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba21.html

The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of
Edinburgh awards
Sexual abuse accusations against group's leader--80th birthday
invitation to hundreds of youngsters

The Guardian, UK/November 4, 2006
By Paul Lewis

A spiritual group whose "living god" founder has been accused of
sexually abusing young boys has become an accredited partner of the
Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, the Guardian can reveal.

Last night pressure was mounting on the charity to break its links
with the group whose followers are devoted to the preachings of 79-
year-old holy man, Sai Baba.

About 200 young people will fly to India in two weeks' time on a
humanitarian pilgrimage run by Sai Youth UK, a division of the Sri
Sathya Sai Organisation. The teenagers and young men earn their Duke
of Edinburgh awards for humanitarian work, chiefly distributing
medical aid.

The trip coincides with Sai Baba's 80th birthday and has been
arranged, organisers say, after he gave a divine commandment for the
UK's Sai youth movement to visit him for the occasion.

For decades male former devotees have alleged that the guru molested
them during so-called "interviews". During the last youth pilgrimage,
in 2004, young people were granted group interviews with the guru
after administering medical aid to villages surrounding Sai Baba's
ashram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, although there was no evidence
of abuse.

Large numbers of young men have travelled from across the world to
study alongside and meet the guru. His supporters say their encounter
was spiritually enriching. Others, including participants in a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, two years ago, accuse him of abuse,
claiming he massaged their testicles with oil and coerced them into
oral sex.

Sai Baba has never been charged over the sex abuse allegations.
However, the US State Department issued a travel warning after reports
of "inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious
leader" which, officials later confirmed was a reference to Sai Baba.

Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and chairman of Fair, a
cult-watching and victim support group, said: "It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.

"Parents who plan to send their children on this month's
pilgrimage ... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."

But Peter Westgarth, chief executive of the charity, last night faced
down calls to terminate his organisation's relationship with the Sai
organisation. He said: "This is not the only religion accused of
paedophilia. Young people who are participating on these trips are
doing so because they choose to," he said. "The awards accredit the
good work they do for poor people in India. We make no judgment about
their religion. We would no sooner intervene here than we would the
Church Lads' and Girls' Brigade."

The Conservative MP Michael Gove said he would write to the charity
asking it to consider a stricter monitoring of the organisations they
they work with. "As a society we need a more determined effort to
identify and expose those religious cults and extremists that pose a
direct threat to people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that
should be directed elsewhere," he said.

Shitu Chudasama, Sai's UK national youth coordinator, defended the
trip, saying it was primarily a humanitarian mission to help
impoverished people, saying that the sex abuse claims were "totally
unfounded". He added: "We hope to have an interview with Sai Baba but
it's not guaranteed. If he wants to see us, he'll call us."

Sai Organisation's UK branch has also came into contact with royals
through the awards, something Buckingham Palace was made aware of in
September. In correspondence seen by the Guardian, Brigadier Sir Miles
Hunt-Davis, Prince Philip's private secretary, wrote: "[We] are very
keen to get this sorted out properly and finally." He said trustees of
the award would undertake legal advice before deciding how to
proceed.

In July the Sai Organisation received a certificate for their
"invaluable contribution" to the awards at a Buckingham Palace garden
party. A news story which appeared on a Sai Baba website after the
ceremony was removed after an intervention by Peter Westgarth, who
said the event had been misrepresented.

In the posting, Mr Chudasama recounted the moment he delivered a
speech to "various dignitaries, diplomats, ministers [and] famous
celebrities" at the palace. "I was the last speaker called up, and
suddenly a confidence, a joy, engulfed my being," he said. "I
attributed everything to our founder Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As
I spoke I watched the sea of faces, they were hanging from my every
word and there was a look of excitement on their faces as if to say
'why have we not heard of this organisation before?'."

Mr Chudasama also attended a private audience with Prince Philip at St
James's Palace last year. "Prince Philip showed a very keen interest
in our youth and asked many questions," Mr Chudasama wrote in a Sai
newsletter. "I also had the opportunity to mention ... that we drew
our inspiration and motivation from our founder Sri Sathya Sai Baba;
he paused for a few seconds and then said: "Very good".

Backstory

Saytha Sai Baba, who has an estimated 30 million followers worldwide,
is possibly India's most controversial holy man. He gained a following
in his teens when he claimed to have divine powers and, later, said he
was an incarnation of God. His teachings are benign - his most famous
mantra is "Love All, Serve All" - and he encourages followers, which
include many of India's political elite, to undertake humanitarian
work. He purports to be able to miraculously conjure sacred ash and
expensive jewellery into the palm of his hand, as if out of thin air.
Opponents dismiss his miracles as party tricks. The Sai Organisation
claims to have more than 1,200 Saytha Sai Baba Centres in more than
100 countries.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba20.html

Guru who gives us no answers
The Scotsman/June 18, 2004
By Tom Adair

The Secret Swami might have veered towards the amusing - in an "Oh my
God, how gullible can you be?" kind of way - had it not been for the
repeated allegations of sex abuse.

Sai Baba, the swami in question, had started off looking like some old
bloke with an ego as big as his bank account. There he sat, in his
opulent ashram at Puttaparthi, near Bangalore, dressed in blinding
canary-yellow and sporting a head of what looked like jet-black pubic
hair - a mane of Leo Sayer proportions; as if he had poked his tongue
into a light socket. Count your blessings - he didn't sing.

Instead, he did tricks, producing trinkets from his fingers - gold
watches, bracelets, stuff with Ratners written all over it. Maybe he'd
read the Paul Daniels Trickster's Guide to Palming, and practised like
mad without the distraction of the lovely Debbie McGee (it later
transpired that Debbie would not have been a distraction). The swami's
followers adored his "miracles" and gasped.

Ten thousand worshippers formed a permanent camp inside the ashram,
believing Sai Baba to be an avatar - a god on Earth. He attracted
attention from burned out hippies, the ones with smoke still doping
their nostrils. Sometimes they smiled their faraway smiles; sometimes
they spoke. One guy believed he'd been in communion with Sai Baba for
21 years before he'd visited "god" in his pad. Sai Baba was quick to
spot white faces wearing dollar signs. As these dupes gawped up from
the crowd, he would single them out for special attention.

The documentary took a much less wide-eyed approach than Sai Baba's
flock, denouncing him from the start as a sham whose ashram resembled
a market place, not a shrine. Oh yes, he appeared to have done some
good - constructing a hospital in the district, providing free
medicare for the poor, and supplying clean water - however, the £40
million it cost was funded by wealthy acolytes, faithfully following
Sai Baba's earnest exhortation: "Wherever you see a sick person -
there is your field of service." And yet, Sai Baba's secret motto
turned out to be different, more like: "Wherever you see a gullible
young believer, (boys only apply) bingo! - sexual opportunity."

The programme gathered American former devotees who claimed that Sai
Baba had abused them, had exposed himself to them, indulged in oral
sex and then sworn them to secrecy. This sexual degradation had shaken
their faith. These victims included a father and a son who were
alleged to have been abused over many years. It was implied that many
Indian boys had also been taken advantage of but were too scared to
make public statements.

All this would matter if it affected just one child. What makes it
worse is that Sai Baba has a worldwide following of 160 million people
and is visited by heads of state. He is thus respectable, a notable
Indian figure.

The allegations went unanswered. When duly challenged, a twitchy
Indian government minister blew his top and accused the reporter of
impertinence. Meanwhile the US embassy's website has posted warnings
to potential visitors.

Whether or not it will shake the blind faith of the devotees remains
to be seen. However, the programme was an example of investigative
reporting all too rare these days - getting inside and under the
issue. It may have even stopped further innocents from falling prey to
the avatar's whim.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba19.html

Spiritual Depths
The Guardian (UK)/June 18, 2004
By Rupert Smith

It's difficult to write about religion without offending someone, but
mercifully we're reviewing a television programme here, and not the
mixture of wishful thinking and wilful credulity that leads people to
worship soi-disant gurus such as Swami Sai Baba. BBC2's This World
strand last night gave us The Secret Swami, an entertaining hour that
made a compelling case against Sai Baba, portraying him as a charlatan
and an abuser.

Young men who claimed to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba related
hair-raising stories of "private interviews" in which the not-so-holy
man pulled his skirt over his head and invited them to get down and
dirty. Hilariously, one Hindu scholar reminded us that this is a
practice sanctioned by neither scripture nor tradition. "Worship of
the linga does not include doing the blow-job."

What started out as a routine denunciation developed into something
more sinister. Sadly, the moment I see a man in a dress surrounded by
grinning worshippers, I'm looking for a catch - and it didn't take
much to prove that Sai Baba's "miracles" were nothing more than a bit
of old-fashioned sleight of hand. On that basis, we might all end up
worshipping David Blaine, which is a worry. But reporter Tanya Datta
did her job properly, and went far beneath the surface of magic tricks
and gaudy tat. She found that Sai Baba bought the eternal gratitude of
rural Indian villagers by paying for clean water supplies, and that he
caused a massive hospital to be built, funded by one of his followers,
Isaac Tigrett, who co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain. She discovered
also that the Indian government, rightly mindful of the rural vote,
has turned a blind eye to claims of wrongdoing in the Baba camp. A
government official got very shirty indeed with Ms Datta, shouting
denials before he'd even heard the allegations. In these cases, "no"
usually does mean "yes".

There was little room amid all the skulduggery for any real
examination of Sai Baba's theology; all we learned was that he is an
avatar, although of whom was not made clear, and that he conveniently
embraces all religions. Without any real exegesis of his ideas, it was
hard to know exactly what his followers believed in - it surely can't
just have been Baba's ability to produce fake Rolexes out of thin air,
or cough up eggs.

But even former disciples couldn't shed much light on what turned them
into such true believers. A nice family from Arkansas were so crazy
about Sai Baba that they encouraged their teenage son to spend as much
time with the guru as possible. Despite allegations of abuse at the
hands of Sai Baba, the son came out with the astonishing comment, "we
are all tools, and we all have to be around for Swami to use - if he
needs a screwdriver".

An hour wasn't enough to do the subject justice, and for once I was
left wanting more. This isn't something I'd say lightly about
television documentaries, which usually need to be edited by 50%. The
mystery of Sai Baba, of his apparent protection by the authorities, of
his canny manipulation of the rural poor and his inexplicable appeal
to rich westerners, only deepened. Astonishingly, Sai Baba has not yet
had the collar of his robe fingered by the long arm of the law.

Armand Leroi, the handsome biologist, turned his attention to the
tricky subject of racial difference in the final part of Human Mutants
(Channel 4). There was some fun stuff about excessive facial hair and
random skin pigmentation to pave the way to Leroi's central thesis,
that "we are all mutants - but some of us are more mutant than
others".

With this in mind, he gently introduced the idea of "a new race
genetics", which was nowhere near as sinister as it sounded. Genome
mapping enabled scientists to identify racial background according to
four main human groups - and, against this kind of science, "terms
like 'black' and 'white' don't describe anything that's real any
more".

This would have come as cold comfort to a Cape Town housewife who went
to bed as a white woman and woke up the next morning black. Shunned by
her family, she died in poverty, which suggests that Leroi's DNA
utopia is a way off just yet.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba18.html

Sai Baba: God-man or con man?
Basava Premanand is India's leading guru-buster

BBC News/June 17, 2004
By Tanya Datta

He believes that the country's biggest spiritual leader, Sri Satya Sai
Baba, is a charlatan and must be exposed.

Basava Premanand has been burgled... again.

It is the third time in just one month. But he is in no doubt of the
thieves' motives.

He suspects they were looking for evidence that he has collected for
over 30 years against India's leading spiritual guru, Sri Satya Sai
Baba.

Mr Premanand believes this evidence proves the self-proclaimed "God-
man", Sai Baba, is not just a fraud, but a dangerous sexual abuser.

"Sai Baba is nothing but a mafia man, conning the people and making
himself rich", he says of his bete noire.

As India's leading guru-buster, Basava Premanand is the scourge of all
miracle-makers.

He is the founder of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations
and the editor of a monthly periodical called The Indian Sceptic.

He believes that it is his duty to dispel the "curse of gullibility
blighting his country in the form of myth and superstition", and
replace it instead with the "gospel of pure, scientific
understanding".

Since 1976, he has waged a bitter war against Sai Baba, a man who
commands a following of millions both in India and abroad. His
devotees believe him to be an Avatar, or incarnation of God in human
form.

But to Mr Premanand, this God is anything but holy.

Allegations

Rumours about Sai Baba sexually abusing young male devotees have been
circulating for years.

In 1976 a former American follower,Tal Brooke, wrote a book called
Avatar of the Night: The Hidden Side of Sai Baba. In it, he referred
to the guru's sexual exploits.

But Brooke's allegations were dismissed out of hand by the tightly
controlled Sai Baba Organisation.

Dr Michael Goldstein, chairman of the international Sai Baba
organisation, admitted he had heard rumours, but told us that he did
not believe them. He said: "My heart and my conscience tell me that it
is not possible."

But in the last four years, and with the growth of the internet, the
tide of claims against Sai Baba has become a groundswell.

Former devotees such as Alaya Rahm and Mark Roche, featured in the the
BBC film Secret Swami, are coming forward with increasingly graphic
stories of the guru's serious sexual exploitation.

Their own experiences bear an uncanny resemblance, yet span a time
frame of almost 30 years.

Both had been subjected to Sai Baba rubbing oil on their genitals.

"He took me aside", said Alaya Rahm, "put the oil on his hands, told
me to drop my pants and rubbed my genitals with the oil. I was really
taken aback."

All the allegations against Sai Baba so far have been made by
Westerners.

But Mr Premanand says that there are many Indians who also claim to
have been abused but are too afraid to speak out.

Well-connected

It is no surprise that Indian victims are scared of reprisals. Sai
Baba's influence among the power elite of India is impressive.

Prime ministers, presidents, judges and generals, have all come to the
ashram (religious retreat) in Puttaparthi in southern India, to pay
their respects.

The previous prime minister of India, Mr Atal Vajpayee, once issued a
letter on his official notepaper calling the attacks on Sai Baba
"wild, reckless and concocted."

Sai Baba also enjoys a close relationship with the state police. A
former head of police once acted as his personal chauffeur.

None of this, however, deters Mr Premanand who has doggedly pursued
Sai Baba over the years through the courts, the media and several
embarrassing books and exposures.

Little wonder that his campaign has enraged some of the holy man's
supporters.

To date, Basava Premanand has survived four murder attempts and bears
the scars from several savage beatings.

In 1986, he was arrested by the police for marching to Puttaparthi
with 500 volunteers for a well-publicised confrontation with Sai
Baba.

Later that year, he took Sai Baba to court for violating the Gold
Control Act by producing gold necklaces out of thin air without the
permission of a Gold Control Administrator.

When his case was dismissed, Mr Premanand appealed on the grounds that
spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.

Break-in
In June 1993, the peace of the ashram was shattered when a gruesome
incident took place.

Four male devotees, who were close to Sai Baba, broke into their
guru's private quarters late at night armed with knives.

Their motives are unclear. Some say they were going to warn their guru
about corruption among the higher echelons of the ashram. Others say
they were going to kidnap or even kill Sai Baba.

They were stopped by Sai Baba's personal attendants and in the violent
struggle that ensued, two of the attendants were killed and two left
seriously wounded.

Sai Baba managed to escape through a secret flight of stairs and raise
the alarm.

Just before the police arrived, the four men escaped to Sai Baba's
bedroom. It was there, the police say, they shot the intruders out of
self defence.

Mr Premanand claimed a cover up and went to court.

He says: "The central government stopped the investigation, because if
the investigation takes place, a lot of things will come out like
economic offences and sex offences."

He was outraged that Sai Baba - one of the key witnesses to the events
of that night - had not been questioned.

Over the next three years, he took his case all the way to the Supreme
Court, before he was eventually defeated.

Today, this sprightly septuagenarian is as busy as ever, collecting
and collating more information. Mr Premanand is preparing for another
battle.

"This," he says mischievously, "is going to be the greatest fight of
my life."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba15.html

BBC2 uncovers secrets behind India's Secret Swami
Aim/June 14, 2004

The most popular of all Indian Godmen, Sai Baba has always been the
Teflon God, the untouchable, charismatic man worshipped by Indian
Prime Ministers, Presidents and peasants. His power over both the
influential and the downtrodden goes to the heart of Indian society
and raises serious questions about the social health of the world's
fastest emerging economy.

Sai Baba claims to be a living God and to millions, his word is truth;
his ability to bring clean water and healthcare to thousands, proof of
divinity.

In a programme that explores the nature of belief, This World travels
from India to California, where the generation whose devotion and
donations helped Sai Baba to power are unravelling at the seams. Hard
Rock Café owner Isaac Tigrett sent Sai Baba's message around the world
by making the Godman's Love All Serve All mantra the corporate slogan
of his multi-million empire. He now has to confront the fact that his
God may have been a sexual abuser.

This World features the story of a family who gave their entire lives
to a man they believed was God, only to discover he was exacting a
terrible price: the sexual innocence of their son. In an intimate and
powerful portrait a family talks openly about their betrayal and the
man who controlled their lives.

"The being which I called Sai Baba, the living God that I had taken
into my heart had been truly abusing my son, for so long. I felt
completely betrayed..." says Marissa, a former devotee. Another, Alaya
says: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life
will be filled with pain and suffering."

This programme is the first to film inside Sai Baba's Ashram for a
number of years and aims to come closer to the true "face of God" than
ever before.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba16.html

Man Arrested With Gun at Sai Baba's Ashram
The Hindustan Times/January 18, 2002

Bangalore, India -- A 26-year-old man who allegedly tried to shoot Sai
Baba on Thursday with an air pistol at his ashram in Whitefield on the
outskirts of Bangalore, was overpowered by ashram volunteers. The air
pistol and some pellets were recovered from the man, Somasundaram, the
police said. Somasundaram was overpowered when he started running
towards Sai Baba who was emerging from a building to give darshan,
eyewitnesses said.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba13.html

British law against Sai Baba sought
Times of India/September 5, 2001
By Rashmee Z. Ahmed

London -- Campaigners against religious cults across western Europe
are trying to persuade the British government to follow the French and
legislate against movements such as Sai Baba and the Moonies.

Tom Sackville, a former British minister and current chairman of the
anti-cult organisation Family Action Information and Resource (FAIR),
told The Times of India, "the French legislation of two months ago has
enormously encouraged my 15-year battle against exploitative cults
such as that of Sai Baba."

The anti-cult campaign comes even as The Times, London, carried
extensive reportage of Sai Baba on Monday, questioning his role in the
"mysterious deaths of three British men", which campaigners admit are
hard to prove were directly caused by the guru.

The newspaper, which flagged its investigation as "exclusive", said
"Sai Baba's activities are being studied by the (British) Foreign
Office, which is considering issuing an unprecedented warning against
the guru to travellers."

It said one of the men had "complained of being repeatedly sexually
molested by Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore."

There is growing British press interest in the man they describe as
"Indian mystic and miracle worker" to the rich, famous and titled such
as the Duchess of York and an architect known to be close to Prince
Charles.

Commentators say this is largely because Sai Baba has a substantial
European fan following, alongside a growing number of hostile and
vocal former devotees who accuse him of physical, mental and monetary
abuse.

The Internet war launched by former devotees across western Europe,
including David Bailey, a Welsh concert pianist once considered to be
Sai Baba's right-hand man, has focussed unsavoury publicity on Sai
Baba.

However, Sai Baba's London headquarters continues to reject all the
allegations.

Several parliamentary questions in the last five years have drawn the
British government's attention to Sai Baba's alleged misconduct. But,
British MPs and anti-cult campaigners say the government has always
maintained that the number of British cases are too few to merit
action.

But now, a new area of concern has arisen according to The Times,
which says Sai Baba has infiltrated the British school system in a
dangerous catch 'em young policy.

The newspaper says more than 500 British schools are being taught
according to "Sai Baba-influenced educational programmes". It says the
programmes are promoted by two charities, the Sathya Sai Education in
Human Values Trust UK and the Human Values Foundation.

Former minister Sackville says the development is worrying because "it
is just like we wouldn't want or allow far-right groups such as the
British National Party (BNP) to be talking to our children in school."

Admitting the BNP was an extreme example, he said "the principle we
are keen to impress on the British government is that just like the
French, we have to make it a criminal offence to exploit people in
vulnerable situations."

Anti-cult campaigners say that their cause has been strengthened
because UNESCO pulled out of an educational conference at Puttaparthi
last year.

They say that if the French legislation is followed by other European
countries, it could eventually become European Union law and would
severely limit the activities of movements such as that of Sai Baba.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba12.html

Suicide, sex and the guru

The reputation of Sai Baba, a holy man to the rich and famous, has
been tarnished by mysterious deaths and allegations of sexual abuse

August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy

In a world of pain and sorrow, a smiling little man in a saffron robe
who can cure misery by magic is a bewitching prospect.

To millions of followers around the world, Sai Baba is a benevolent
spiritual leader whose hospitals and schools work tirelessly for the
advancement of the poor. But an investigation by The Times today
discloses that three British men have apparently taken their own lives
after becoming followers of the miracle worker. Two of them were
encouraged to believe that he could cure their medical problems. One
of those also said that he had been touched intimately by the Sai
Baba.

This is the same Sai Baba who is adored and indulged by the
international jet set. The Duchess of York had the treat of watching
him produce a gold watch and cross from thin air when she visited his
ashram in India.

The Prince of Wales's architectural adviser, Keith Critchlow, designed
a vast, stunning hospital for Sai Baba, which has been compared to St
Peter's in Rome and a maharaja's palace. "The most influential holy
man in India today," is how the respected architect describes the
guru.

The hospital, mostly financed by Isaac Tigrett, the wealthy American
founder of the Hard Rock Café chain of restaurants, treats the humble
people of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. So it was with
righteous indignation that Sai Baba, in a rare fit of public anger,
has turned on the band of disillusioned disciples who are now
tarnishing his name.

Jesus Christ, said Sai Baba to a large crowd of devotees, underwent
many hardships and was put on the cross because of jealousy. In those
days there was only one Judas to betray him, but now there are
thousands.

The holy man alleged that his detractors were being bribed to lie
about him because of fear of his growing popularity. "People are
trying to stop me but can do nothing," he said. "People love and
follow Sai because of the truth I stand for and the love that is my
basis."

Detractors are casting doubt on Sai Baba's miracles, suggesting that
he is little more than a conjuror with a limited repertoire of jaded
tricks. A financial row over the £13 million fortune of the British
film actor James Mason, whose widow became a Sai Baba devotee, is
smouldering. Most devastating is the suggestion that Sai Baba might
have been abusing his power over young male followers by indulging in
sexual activity with them.

Sai Baba was born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 in the tiny
village of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh.When he was only 14, Sai Baba
- already magically producing candles and pencils for school friends -
surprised his family by announcing that he was the reincarnation of
Sai Baba of Shirdi, a miraculous old Indian sage who died in 1918.

Today Sai Baba's birthplace is home to an ashram that can accommodate
10,000 pilgrims. The obscure village has grown to cater for Sai Baba's
followers, of which there are more than 20 million worldwide. They
include some of India's most influential people. The legendary batsman
Sachin Tendulkar, who helps to organise cricket matches at Sai Baba's
stadium, says that he "worships" the guru.

The director-general of police in Andhra Pradesh, H. J. Dora, acts as
Sai Baba's chauffeur when the spiritual leader visits the state
capital, Hyderabad. Judges and top civil servants flock for audiences
with him. The Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, another follower,
has opened a new Sai Baba hospital in Bangalore. In a lofty tribute,
the premier said that Sai Baba has shown humanity the path of
liberation which goes beyond freedom from worldly attachments.

However, the first cracks in faith in Sai Baba's magical powers came
about because of a visit by a previous prime minister, Narasimha Rao,
also a devotee.For this special occasion, Sai Baba appeared to
materialise a gold watch from nowhere. But when Indian state
television workers played back film of the incident in slow motion,
they saw that the miracle was a sleight-of-hand hoax. The clip was
never broadcast in India but has been widely circulated on videotape
there. Sai Baba's most common miracle is to produce "sacred ash" from
between his fingers.

Sometimes he pulls shiny, solid religious artefacts from his mouth.
But magicians who have analysed these wonders say they are nothing
more than old and simple tricks. Sai Baba is being challenged on
another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the
fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of
targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker
might be able to cure the afflictions of old age.

One of Sai Baba's most devout followers was Clarissa Mason, the second
wife of the film star James Mason. When Clarissa died of cancer in
1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's £13 million estate
to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children,
Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will
in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to
see any of the Mason millions.

Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her
house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman". Her legacy has
gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children
to include a follower of Sai Baba.

But more potentially damaging than claims about money are the sexual
allegations against Sai Baba. These were first publicised as long ago
as 1976, when Tal Brooke, a disenchanted American devotee, wrote
Avatar of Night. Over the years, the description by disillusioned
followers of intimate acts involving Sai Baba has persisted.

The suggestion is that Sai Baba grants one-to-one audiences to young
men, who believe they are in the presence of a living god. This may
entail a high level of intimacy and the men allowing their private
parts to be touched or fondled by the guru.

There have been no prosecutions. A complaint was lodged with India's
Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been
no result. In the United States, though, anti-Sai Baba campaigners are
trying to persuade the authorities to open investigations into the
alleged molestation of American citizens who are minors. The co-
ordinator of this American campaign says that he has been interviewed
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but no formal inquiry is under
way.

So has Sai Baba, the most worshipped sage of the Orient, really been
groping youthful followers. One innocent explanation is provided by
Stuart Jones, a member of Sai Baba's Bristol and Bath group. He points
out that there is a possible cultural misunderstanding at play. In
yoga, Jones explains, one of the energy points on the body is below
the testicles, an area sometimes stimulated by a teacher such as Sai
Baba.

"When I was out there, it happened to a couple of friends of mine, but
it was more like, how can I say, doctor's surgery. There was no
sexuality involved. One chap said that a tremendous amount of energy
was suddenly released in him and he felt wonderful afterwards. I don't
mean ejaculation. It was like suddenly feeling wonderful. Sometimes he
rubs the chest or the forehead where these other points are."

Talk of "energy points" does not endear Sai Baba to the Indian
Rationalists Association, an organisation of atheists and doubters
which seeks to debunk organised religion and disprove all miracles.
They denounce him as the biggest fraud of the "god industry". Joseph
Edamaruku, the association's president, says: "He has consistently
refused to subject himself to an independent examination. He raises
enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not
believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works."

One charitable field where Sai Baba's followers do seem to be most
active is education. Sai Baba's teachings, however, are a collection
of banal truisms and platitudes. The most famous utterances he has
made in a six decade-long career as a living god are "Help ever, hurt
never" and "Love all, serve all". Few are likely to argue with such a
simplistic and universal moral code. He broadens his appeal further by
allowing devotees to continue practising their own religion while
paying homage to him.

Sai Baba's children's course, Education in Human Values, is taught in
schools in 100 countries. It promotes five qualities: truth (satya),
righteousness (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prema) and nonviolence
(ahimsa). Education in Human Values rejects rote learning, emphasising
Indian techniques such as "silent sitting", quotation, story-telling,
song and group activities.

Sai Baba's message reaches British schoolchildren through two
charities. The first is named in his honour, the Sathya Sai Education
in Human Values Trust UK, which claims to have had contact with 80
schools. Typical of its activities is a summer camp held at
Christchurch Primary School in Ilford, East London, several weeks ago
where 100 children painted, played games and sang. Courses have been
cleverly designed to fit into Key Stages 1 to 4 of the National
Curriculum, targeting children aged seven to 16.

The charity states that it does not promote any particular religion.
Carole Alderman, the founder, a former ChildLine volunteer, has no
teaching qualifications. She admits to using some of Sai Baba's
quotations but says: "We don't teach about Sai Baba at all."

She adds: "I have witnessed a lot of his miracles. I have seen people
going in with crutches or wheelchairs and come out walking. I have
seen him materialise things many times a day. He just knows
everything." Asked about the sexual allegations, she says: "It's
totally unfounded. Anybody who actually knows him, knows it is."

Another British charity, the Human Values Foundation, says it has
reached more than 500 schools. Its chairman, Dennis Eagan, said "The
foundation has nothing to do with Sai Baba."

But the Human Values Foundation's programme is also called "Education
for Human Values". It promotes Sai Baba's same five virtues, using
"silent sitting", activities, songs, quotations and stories. Its
president, June Auton, has been a regular visitor to Sai Baba's
ashram. She has been described by Barry Pittard, a former English
lecturer at Sai Baba's college in India, as "synonymous with Swami's
Human Values Programme."

Auton told The Times: "I'm not going to discuss anything about my
religion at all on the phone. My religion is my business." Pressed,
she would only say: "I do attend my local church." It is the recent
suicides, however, that may hurt Sai Baba the most in Britain.
Suicides and suspicious deaths have long marred his reputation. A
German man was found hanging from a rafter in Puttaparthi in the early
1980s. A father and daughter took fatal overdoses in Bangalore in 1999
after failing to get an audience with the guru.

In a puzzling incident in June 1993, Sai Baba was attacked by four
young male devotees armed with knives. Two of the guru's bodyguards
were stabbed to death. After the four youths, long-time followers of
Sai Baba, locked themselves in a room, they were all shot dead by
police. Challenging faith in a man of miracles can be painful. At Sai
Baba's Central London base in Clerkenwell, there is reluctance to
confront the allegations of sexual harassment, suicides and financial
maneuvering.

Dee Puri, at the London headquarters, denounces the suggestion that
Sai Baba takes money from the rich, pointing out that at his 28-year-
old London premises: "Entrance is free. There is no money going to
Baba at all.

As for the suggestions of sexual harassment, she told The Times: "I
don't want to talk about it because there is no such thing. I think
such conversations disturb me and my beliefs. The organisation is most
unhappy that you have tried to hurt us. Nobody will speak to you
unless you want to write something which is truth, which is not
controversial.

"As far as I am concerned, Baba is a great, great guru. Thirty years I
have been a devotee of Baba and millions and millions of people are,
so I would very respectfully ask you please not to put that sort of
question to me."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba11.html

Three die after putting faith in guru
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy

Three British men have died mysteriously after becoming followers of
an Indian mystic famed as a 'god man' and miracle worker. Sai Baba's
activities are being studied by the Foreign Office which is
considering issuing an unprecedented warning against the guru to
travellers.

The Times has learnt that three Britons have apparently taken their
lives after placing hope in India's most popular holy man.

One of them had complained of being repeatedly sexually molested by
Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore.

Michael Pender, an HIV-positive student, was found dead at a London
hostel after taking alcohol and painkillers. He had already tried to
commit suicide at the holy man's headquarters.

Aran Edwards hanged himself at home in Cardiff after joining a Sai
Baba support group and being encouraged to write to the guru to solve
his psychological problems.

Mr Edwards sent a flurry of anxious letters but was devastated after
receiving no replies and being told that the guru did not read his
mail.

Andrew Richardson, a South Africa-born British national, jumped off a
building in India shortly after visiting Sai Baba's ashram.

Among visitors who have paid respects to Sai Baba are the Duchess of
York, the Prince of Wales's architect Keith Critchlow, the cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Sai Baba's message is being preached in more than 500 British schools
through charities which claim to provide non-denominational education
in 'human values.'

Tom Sackville, a former Home Office Minister, last night urged the
Government to take decisive action to warn teachers and pilgrims of
the dangers of becoming involved with Sai Baba. The guru's reputation
is plummeting after the United Nations cancelled a conference at his
headquarters, issuing a condemnation of his alleged sex abuse of
youths and boys.

Unicef pulled out of a conference it was due to sponsor with the
guru's educational organisation in Puttaparthi last September.

The UN's cultural agency issued a trenchant statement: 'The
organisation is deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of
sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at
the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba.

'Whilst it is not for Unesco to pronounce itself in this regard, the
organisation restates its firm moral and practical commitment to
combating the sexual exploitation of children, in application of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires states to
protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and violence.'

In hundreds of British schools, Sai Baba-influenced educational
programmes on 'human values' are currently being promoted as part of
the National Curriculum.

The Charity Commission met the trustees of one of the educational
charities involved, the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Trust UK,
last year and 'found no concerns,' a spokesman said.

Mr Sackville, chairman of the anti-cult organisation Fair (Family
Action Information and Resource), said that he had successfully
intervened to persuade a girls' school to reject a Sai Baba-inspired
course.

'Schools are not on their guard because at official level they are not
given any steer,' Mr Sackville said. 'Some other countries would have
had official warnings.'

He said that Whitehall was strongly opposed to letting the British
Government apply sanctions to cults, which civil servants describe
respectfully as 'new religious movements.'

As for the Charity Commission's clean bill of health to the Sai Baba
educational organisation, Mr Sackville said: 'There's a lot of very
naive people around in these government institutions.'

He called on the Foreign Office to issue a warning against Sai Baba
along the lines of recommendations to travellers to beware the dangers
of Aids and violence abroad. The Foreign Office is believed to be
considering putting out just such advice.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba10.html

'I sought peace and couldn't find it'
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Michael Dynes and Dominic Kennedy

Durban -- Michael Pender, a student, hoped that Sai Baba would be able
to cure him of HIV. Like thousands of devotees from around the world,
Mr Pender went on a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi,
southern India, expecting to find magic and divinity. Instead Mr
Pender, known as "Mitch," was found dead after taking tablets in the
lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London.
He was 23.

Kathleen Ord, who first told him of Sai Baba's teachings, has since
destroyed her books and videos on the holy man. She said: "I blame
myself in many ways because, if I hadn't introduced them, Mitch would
probably be alive now. That's what he went to India for, thinking he'd
find a cure.

"He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs
more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there.
There was something sexual that was frightening." Her son, Keith, has
given a detailed account of what Mr Pender said in his last weeks
about meeting Sai Baba. The guru flattered the British student by
describing him as "the reincarnation of St Michael." Mr Ord's
evidence, posted on the Internet, states: "He told me that the very
first private interview that he had with SB was a sexual encounter.

"At first he couldn't believe any of this was happening. It felt
unreal and frightening. But then after the first interview he thought
SB must have been showing him something about himself . . . that there
must have been some spiritual or 'divine' explanation behind the
swami's actions.

"But after the fourth interview, he became very despondent and
confused about the whole thing; each interview was a repetition of the
first . . . Baba 'materialised' an emerald ring on the fifth interview
and gave him money on the sixth.

"After telling me of his experiences, Michael became quite depressed."
On January 12, 1990, Mr Pender's body was found by the supervisor of
his hostel. Traces of paracetamol and alcohol were found in his blood,
but a pathologist found it impossible to determine if they were lethal
doses. An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in St Pancras.

Aran Edwards, a classical guitarist and postgraduate theology student
at the University of Wales in Newport, joined Sai Baba's Bath and
Bristol support group. David Bailey, a concert pianist from Conwy,
North Wales, who had become one of the guru's closest British aides,
met Aran with the group.

"He was sort of persuaded that Sai Baba looked after him, did
everything for him and that he should write to Sai Baba with his
problems," Mr Bailey said.

"He was quite an ill person, mentally unstable and needed orthodox
help. In the end, he wrote a couple of dozen or more letters to Sai
Baba. The group had told him this was what to do.

"He used to ring me from phone boxes pleading with me. There were 35
phone calls, I suppose . . . he was absolutely desperate that I should
talk to Sai Baba for him because he was in such a state and had
written all these letters which he had sent out and hadn't had a
reply. Could I please help because I was Sai Baba's right-hand man?
"At the end I said, 'Wake up. He doesn't even read these letters'. He
was so distraught about the situation, he decided to commit suicide."

Aran Edwards, a single man, was found hanged from a staircase at his
home in Cardiff, on April 19, 1999. He was 37. A suicide verdict was
recorded by the coroner.

Stuart Jones, of the Bath and Bristol group, said: "He was a very
fragile kind of person, very sensitive, very gentle in nature. If you
are thinking there is a link, I know for a fact there wasn't a link in
the sense of all the allegations going about Sai Baba. He was in
distress long before."

Aran never visited Sai Baba in India. But Andrew Richardson, a British
national born in South Africa, did. He made a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's
ashram, booking in for a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two
days.

On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired
a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings,
the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and
travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to
the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the
ground, killing himself. He was 33.

Two letters were found on his body. One to Sai Baba outlined his quest
for spiritual enlightenment. The second was a suicide note saying he
was in a deep depression: "I came to India in search of peace but
could not find it." His mother, Deirdre, at her home near
Pietermaritzburg, said: "Andrew wanted to see Sai Baba, but was also
heading to Calcutta to see Mother Teresa . . . All he wanted to do was
work with the poor."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba9.html

Sex Scandal swirls around Sai Baba
Cult News Summary/December 2004

Sai Baba, a controversial Indian "holy man" presides over a spiritual
kingdom that includes one of the world's largest ashrams. He claims to
have millions of followers.

But the guru, who is approaching 80, has a history of sexual abuse
allegations that in recent years has made media headlines around the
world.

Former followers of the aging swami reportedly call him "a sexual
harasser, a fraud and even a pedophile."

One man says Sai Baba ordered him to drop his pants and allow the guru
to massage his penis. He later said, "Sai Baba was my God -- who dares
to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he
had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in
totality."

Despite such revelations and the growing scandal that surrounds Sai
Baba he continues to be worshipped at his ashram. Twice a day he
parades about and makes appearances to the faithful, entertaining them
with what seems like little more than magic tricks.

Sai Baba's so-called "materializations" include making watches and
jewelry appear out of "thin air."

At functions his followers rock back and forth with "shining eyes"
seemingly in trance-like or hypnotic states. Perhaps in this condition
they are prepared to believe almost anything.

The guru holds court within lavishly appointed rooms decorated with
gold leaf and hanging chandeliers.

"Sometimes I think the ashram is a madhouse and Swami is the
director," said one recently devoted disciple. Does Sai Baba prey upon
the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable? "When you don't have
problems, you don't go to the ashram," says a disciple.

But there may be casualties amongst the true believers.

A Malaysian woman reportedly had a psychotic breakdown, attacked
ashram workers and was taken into police custody. She sat in a holding
area almost catatonic, mumbling "darshan, darshan, darshan"
repeatedly.

Sai Baba has accumulated substantial influence and prestige within
India. That influence includes some prominent leaders such as former
Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Times of India reported in 1993
that the guru's followers include "governors, chief ministers,
assorted politicians, business tycoons, newspaper magnates, jurists,
sportsmen, academics and, yes, even scientists."

His popularity is easy to understand. Sai Baba has built a hospital
that offers free services, partly financed by a $20 million donation
from Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Café. Its pink façade
makes it look more like a palace than a hospital. And in the entrance
area there are images of Sai Baba.

Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of
chicanery and worse."

Nevertheless Illustrated Weekly of India stated, "God or a fraud, no
one doubts the good work done by the Sai organization."

But does the guru use his accumulated good will and "God-man" status
to get into people's pants?

The sex abuse claims are strikingly similar and seem to fit the same
pattern.

"During my 'private audiences' with Sai Baba, Sai Baba used to touch
my private parts and regularly massage my private parts, indicating
that this was for spiritual purposes," wrote one former devotee. "He
grabbed my head and pushed it into his groin area. He made moaning
sounds. As soon as he took the pressure off my head and I lifted my
head, Sai Baba lifted his dress and presented me a semi-erect member,
telling me that this was my good luck chance, and jousted his hips
towards my face," the man said.

When the devotee later talked about his sexual encounter he was thrown
out of the ashram.

"Each time I saw Baba, his hand would gradually make more prominent
connections to my groin," said another former follower.

All of the allegations reportedly involved mostly teenage boys and
young men in their 20s.

This story is hardly new. In 1970 a book by Tal Brooke titled "Lord of
the Air" later renamed "Avatar of Night," told the story of a devoted
disciple's disillusionment upon learning of Sai Baba's sexual
appetite.

More recently a document called "Findings" accumulated accounts of
alleged sexual exploitation and abuse from the guru's former
followers.

An excerpt from the document reads, "Whilst still at the ashram, the
worst thing for me -- as a mother of sons -- occurred when a young
man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David, 'Please
Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us&These sons of
devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling
participants in a pedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share
this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed
their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a
visiting professor of music to the Sai college."

Since the release of "Findings" the Sai Baba sex scandal has grown and
gained momentum.

A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a devotee
wanted to launch a class-action lawsuit against the Sai Organization
in America. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do
anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with
someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe. This
isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this,"
Meloy said.

One former Indian ashram volunteer petitioned India's Supreme Court to
investigate Sai Baba. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been
abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old
kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In
most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not
going to believe them. American citizens have been knowing about this
abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to
him," he said.

UNESCO yanked its co-sponsorship of an education conference in India
linked to Sai Baba and stated it was "deeply concerned about widely
reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children
that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question,
Sathya Sai Baba."

After Conny Larsson, a Swedish actor went public about his coerced
sexual relations with the guru; the Sai Organization in Sweden was
shut down.

India Today ran a cover story about the scandal, as has England's
Daily Telegraph.

Labor MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament.

Former British government minister, Tom Sackville said, "The
authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable."

But it seems that the guru's ardent followers can rationalize almost
anything.

One such disciple concluded in an essay published on the Internet,
"First of all, I believe that Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, a full
incarnation of God ... any sexual contact Baba has had with devotees
-- of whatever kind -- has actually been only a potent blessing, given
to awaken the spiritual power within those souls. Who can call that
'wrong'? Surely to call such contact 'molestation' is perversity
itself."

A "potent blessing"?

"When he does it, he has a purpose," concludes another still devoted
follower.

Other devotees have rejected reports about their guru's sexual abuse
completely regardless of how many of his alleged victims come forward
to tell their stories.

One said, "I think this is a projection of his devotees' problems. You
hear a lot of rumors&but for me it's not important. When you're happy,
why doubt it?"

Note: This news summary is based upon an article titled
"Untouchable" (note: dead link) by Michelle Goldberg, which appeared
in Salon Magazine, July 25, 2001

Holy man? Sex abuser? Both?
Vancouver Sun/February 27, 2001
By Douglas Todd

His followers say Sai Baba is a God on Earth, and they generously
support his multi-billion-dollar religious empire. But some former
adherents are coming forward with dark tales of the guru sexually
molesting young men.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba -- "The Protector," "The Infinite," "the Creator"
-- has only once left India, where he reigns as arguably the country's
most famous living swami. But Sai Baba is here tonight at this temple
in east Vancouver. Sai Baba is sitting in the ochre robe on the wooden
throne at the front altar, smelling the eye-stinging incense,
listening to the spine-tingling chants and watching the earnest,
multiracial followers bow to him. Sai Baba is omni-present.

So be-lieves B.C. Sai Baba president Nami Thiyagaratnam, who teaches
management studies at the University of Victoria. To devotees, Sai
Baba is an avatar, God on Earth, born of a virgin mother. Separated by
gender in the Vancouver temple, the scores of East Indians,
Caucasians, Japanese, blacks and Chinese followers who sit on the red
carpet revering Sai Baba believe he paranormally transports his
invisible soul throughout the globe.

They are convinced that at this moment he is gazing contentedly at
them and other adherents conducting similar rituals of worship around
the planet at 6,700 Sai Baba temples, charity hospitals and schools,
mostly in India, but including 500 centres in the U.S. and 70 in
Canada. Dr. Ray Ludwig, 60, a Vancouver physician, puts his awe for
the Indian avatar succinctly: "Sai Baba, to me, is like a thousand
Mother Teresas. It was the greatest day of my life when I met Sai Baba
15 years ago. He transforms people to an altruistic lifestyle."

But deep troubles are emerging in Sai Baba's wealthy, glorious
universe, where people of all religions, from Christianity to
Buddhism, are meant to come together, because, as Sai Baba teaches,
"all faiths are facets of the same truth."

Accusations are mounting that Sai Baba has been sexually molesting
comely young men for decades during private meetings at his giant
ashram in India, where thousands visit each week.

The round-faced "saint" with the Jimi Hendrix hairdo, who is known for
miraculously manifesting out of thin air everything from wristwatches
to sacred stones and ash, has never admitted to sexual assault. But
followers in Canada and elsewhere acknowledge they've taken part with
him in what they call "sexual healing."

As the number of disturbing accounts grow, followers around the world
and across Canada have been feeling betrayed. Greater Vancouver boasts
one of the bigger North American Sai Baba contingents, with several
thousand members, about 75 per cent of them from the city's large Indo-
Canadian community With the sex scandal rapidly being unveiled on
various Internet sites and in a few newspapers, Sai Baba has told his
adherents, whose numbers range from 10 million to 50 million,
depending on whom you talk to, not to sign on to the World Wide Web.

The abuse charges are producing a mix of confusion and sadness,
defensiveness and sublime indifference among those who remain
acolytes. Thiyagaratnam, speaking at the Sai Baba Centre at 1659 East
10th, says he's not surprised that people are trying to ruin the
reputation of such a wondrous man. After all, he says, people also
persecuted Jesus Christ and Buddha. "It's very acrimonious and we're
sad. But people are entitled to their opinion." The charges are taking
their toll, however.

UNESCO recently cancelled its co-sponsorship of a conference in Sai
Baba's hometown of Puttaparthi, in southern India, saying it was
"deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of sexual abuse
involving youth and children that have been levelled at the leader of
the movement."

The many celebrity admirers of 75-year-old Sai Baba -- including
Indian president Atal Bihari Vajpayee; Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of
the Hard Rock restaurant chain and House of Blues; Sarah Ferguson,
Prince Andrew's former wife, and dozens of prominent Indian
professionals -- have so far been silent. But graphic charges have
come from all over the world.

London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper and India Today magazine recently
reported the case of American Sam Young, a young man who said he was
repeatedly abused by Sai Baba in a private room while his unwitting
parents remained outside, feeling blissful that their son was getting
so much of the divine one's attention.

Former Sai Baba leaders such as Swedish psychotherapist and former
film star, Conny Larsson, who says the guru regularly performed oral
sex on him and asked for it in return. Sai Baba was said to have
claimed he was simply correcting Larsson's inner "kundalini" energy.

David Bailey, a Welshman who had risen high in Sai Baba's inner
circle, fell away after hearing numerous accounts of how young men's
sessions with Sai Baba, which started out as purported sexual healing,
eventually turned into molestation. Bailey has been compiling the
stories, called the Findings, on a Web site.

Californian Glen Meloy is one of many former adherents who are busily
"e-bombing" decision-makers, including the White House, U.S. Senators,
the FBI and Indian newspapers, with warnings to keep young males away
from Sai Baba.

Still, no criminal charges have ever been laid against Sai Baba,
although some speculate that's because of his exalted position and
charitable work in India, where he's opened numerous well-appointed
hospitals, schools, colleges and water-treatment facilities.

Dr. Michael Goldstein, the influential U.S. president of the Sai Baba
organization, this year dismissed all the accusations. He says they're
unbelievable and that Sai Baba remains divinely pure, filled only with
"selfless love." The answer for those who doubt, says Goldstein, is to
show more faith.

But Goldstein's attitude draws the disdain of people such as
Vancouver's Tony Cleary, who walked away last year from the group
after 15 years of high-level dedication. Cleary, a 57-year-old
businessman, said it's difficult to leave. "Sai Baba makes you feel so
important because he tells you he's chosen you."

In addition to the sex allegations catalogued by Bailey, a friend,
Cleary is concerned about what he estimates are the billions of
dollars that well-meaning devotees give to Sai Baba and his various
charities. "It's a huge enterprise," Cleary says. Sai Baba is said to
be the reincarnation of the revered Indian saint, Shirdi Sai Baba, who
died in 1918. But Cleary said Sai Baba's teachings are "pretty
standard stuff.

"It's basically Hinduism with an eclectic mix of Christianity and
Buddhism, so it will appeal to more people." Despite his anger, Cleary
still believes Sai Baba probably has miraculous powers, including the
ability to "astral travel," which allows his soul to traverse the
globe.

Cleary also believes Sai Baba, who has only physically travelled to
Africa many years ago, may transport himself to sleep in various
sacred beds that devotees keep for him around the world, including in
Vancouver. So far in Canada, two people have agreed to go public with
accounts of Sai Baba's practice of "sexual healing," sometimes known
as "genital oiling."

But they offer ambiguous interpretations of what happened. Marc-Andre
St. Jean said in an interview from Montreal that when he was 19 and
had a private session with Sai Baba, the guru pointed at his genitals
and said, "Something slow."

Although St. Jean didn't know what Sai Baba was talking about at the
time, he said the guru then "asked me to drop my pants. He made a
materializing motion with his hand and there was cream on it. He
applied it to my scrotum." St. Jean thought at the time the event was
not sexual -- but more like "going to the doctor" for what he found
out was a urinary infection -- but St. Jean has since quit the group
after hearing and believing the mounting allegations of molestation.

St. Jean, now 29, remains bemused. "The charisma of Sai Baba is
incredible," he says. "The love was flowing from him. All this still
bothers me a lot. It's scary." In Langley, by contrast, Sai Baba
leaders Ann and David Jevons remain defiantly loyal to their divine
master.

Although they witnessed Sai Baba conduct a "sexual healing" on their
son's genitals more than a decade ago, they say the guru did it
because their son had a lump on his testicles, probably caused by an
anti-miscarriage drug she had taken during pregnancy.

"I know Sai Baba has done sexual things," says Ann Jevons, 62. Ann and
David, 65, acknowledged in an article for their newsletter that Sai
Baba can show less interest in adults such as themselves and more
interest in children and young people in general -- showering them
with rings and watches that he mysteriously materializes out of
nowhere.

But Jevons thinks sexual healing is a good thing, because "there is a
kundalini point between the anus and the genitals, where human energy
starts." It is totally understandable, she says, that a saint would
want to help people by curing disruptions in the flow of such a
crucial life force.

"Sai Baba is faultless," Jevons says. "He just opened the largest
hospital in south India. He's done incredible service to the world.
His accusers are wrong. And we're no gullible believers."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba6.html

Guru shrugs off sex allegations
The Star/January 14, 2001
By Tom Harpur

`Do not get deluded because I talk, laugh, eat and walk like
you. . . . All my actions are always selfless, selfless, selfless.'-
Guru Sai Baba

IN THE Oct. 28 issue of the London Telegraph's Sunday magazine, a
major feature article described one of the greatest scandals to befall
a guru or religious leader in our time.

Titled "Divine Downfall," the six-page expos* by British investigative
journalist Mick Brown makes the case that the man millions around the
world hold to be God incarnate, a healer and "miracle worker" on a par
with Krishna or Christ, has systematically and for decades sexually
abused large numbers of teenage boys.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba - who has only once left his southern India ashram
in Puttaparthi, close to Bangalore (for a visit to Uganda), yet has
followers numbering anywhere from 10 million to 50 million, depending
on the source - is also accused of financial wrongs and "B-grade
conjuring tricks."

But those charges have been around for years. What is new is the huge
controversy now coming to a head over a document released on the
Internet, called "The Findings."

It was compiled over the last three years by David Bailey, a Welsh ex-
devotee, who had risen high in the guru's inner circle only to be
devastated by allegations made to him by several students at Sai
Baba's ashram college.

They claimed the guru had sexually abused them and said they couldn't
tell anyone because they were fearful of being disbelieved by their
parents and friends who were also devotees.

Shocked, Bailey quit the ashram and began building a record of
evidence gained from devotees around the globe.

The completed dossier includes scores of accounts of such abuse from
Holland, Australia, Germany, India and the United States.

Swedish movie actor Conny Larsson is one of those cited: "Not only did
Sai Baba make sexual advances towards him, but he had also been told
by young male disciples of advances the guru had made on them."

The Telegraph account told a particularly moving story of an American
husband and wife who suddenly found themselves being given special
treatment by the guru - out of all the thousands seeking to get near
him at his twice-daily public sessions.

Simultaneously, their teenage son, Sam, was being selected for even
closer ties. The Telegraph said he was given presents of all kinds,
including expensive watches, which the guru claimed to have
"materialized" out of thin air.

Over four years, Sam spent many hours alone with "God," just metres
from his parents outside.

The parents were stunned when their son finally alleged that Sai Baba
had steadily moved from fondling to demands for oral sex and,
eventually, attempted rape. Sam said he had feared that to tell anyone
would end his parents' happiness and incur the divine wrath of the
guru.

Significantly, the harrowing stories in "The Findings" produced a
flood of similar accounts from every corner of the Internet.
Gradually, the stage was set for one of the most amazing battles ever
spawned in cyberspace.

Browsing the Net recently, I found everything from Web sites with
specious, unconvincing arguments - for example, that the whole affair
was initiated by the omnipotent, omniscient guru as a kind of "divine
game" to test the disciples' faith - to a host of critical chatrooms,
columns and letters.

Sai Baba has been "India's most famous and powerful holy man" for
nearly 60 years.

His official biographer says in a four-volume work that the "saint"
was born sinless "of immaculate conception," like the Virgin Mary, in
Puttaparthi in 1926.

At 13, he announced he was the reincarnation of a revered southern
saint, Shirdi Sai Baba, who died in 1918. Even as a boy, the guru
displayed signs of allegedly miraculous powers by "materializing"
flowers and candies from "nowhere."

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other politicians are
included among his followers, as are members of India's judiciary,
academics, scientists and scores of high-profile members of the upper
middle class.

There are nine chapters of the Sai Baba organization in Toronto and
many others nationwide.

Nothing I have found yet on the Web or elsewhere directly meets the
current charges. Instead, the pro-Baba arguments seem to consist of
various ways of saying that God is God and doesn't really have to
explain. His ways are far beyond anything we mere humans can
understand.

Sai Baba is reported to have said recently to his devotees: "Never try
to understand me."

Perhaps he eventually will be cleared of the accusations levelled
against him. He may be a pure healer and a promoter of universal love.

But if this quote is accurate, he embodies the kind of guruship to be
avoided at all cost.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba5.html

The man believers think is God

Sai Baba, an Indian holy man, worshipped by many prominent Canadians,
is accused of being a sexual predator

The Ottawa Citizen/December 19, 2000
By Bob Harvey

Millions of devotees in Ottawa and in more than 100 countries around
the world recently celebrated the 75th birthday of Sai Baba, an Indian
spiritual leader they believe is God.

But a growing number of leaders of the movement in Canada, Sweden, the
U.S. and other countries have quit: they say Sai Baba is a sexual
predator.

UNESCO also recently cancelled its co-sponsorship of a conference in
Sai Baba's home town of Puttaparthi, India, saying it was "deeply
concerned about widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving
youth and children that have been levelled at the leader of the
movement."

Raj Midha, the president of Ottawa's brand new $2-million Sri Sathya
Sai Spiritual Centre on Hunt Club, is a believer. Like many devotees,
he wears a large ring given to him by the guru. "He materialized it
from thin air," Mr. Midha says.

Television documentaries produced in Australia, India and other
countries have used slow-motion to show that such "miracles" are
really just clever sleight-of-hand by Sai Baba. But Mr. Midha shrugs
off this and other allegations about Sai Baba. "With all big leaders,
there have always been people who didn't like them. Even Jesus was
crucified."

What Mr. Midha wants to do is tell how Sai Baba has changed his life
and others. He shows off the 156,000-square-foot centre with pride,
and points to Sai Baba teachings posted on the walls of the building.
He says those teachings can be summarized in eight words: "Love All,
Serve All", and "Help Ever, Hurt Never."

Mr. Midha, a telecommunications engineer, believes Sai Baba cured his
wife's cancer, and he credits his own work with the Shepherds of Good
Hope and other charities to Sai Baba's teachings. On the centre's
second floor, he is reverent as he enters Sai Baba's bedroom, which
comes complete with bathroom, and a balcony overlooking the worship
area on the ground floor.

Sai Baba has taken only one trip out of India, and that was to Uganda.
But Mr. Midha and other devotees firmly believe their leader can
transport himself around the world at will. Mr. Midha says they know
Sai Baba uses his Ottawa bedroom, because they leave a glass of water
on his bedside table, and often the glass has been half-drained. About
200 devotees regularly worship at the centre, and some report having
seen the holy man while they were praying.

Conny Larsson, a psychotherapist, and once a well-known actor and film
star in his native Sweden, has a very different view of Sai Baba. He
first met Sai Baba in 1978, built his own apartment near the guru's
headquarters in Puttaparthi, and remained a devotee until last year.
Mr. Larsson was the spiritual co-ordinator of the Sai Baba movement in
Sweden, and says he brought tens of thousands of people to India to
see Sai Baba by speaking at conferences, writing a book about Sai
Baba, and speaking on radio.

"Now I feel very guilty," he says. For the first five years he knew
Sai Baba, Mr. Larsson says the guru regularly practised oral sex on
him, and asked that Mr. Larsson do the same for him. The guru's
explanation, as it has been for many young men, is that he was
correcting Mr. Larsson's kundalini, or cosmic force.

"I was brainwashed," said Mr. Larsson in a telephone interview from
Sweden. "As a child I was severely molested, and when he did this to
me, he told me he was going to correct something. And in my mind, I
thought God was healing me of this tragedy. This is the reason he
could do what he liked. "Everyone told me I was very special. They
puffed me up. For a person so molested and hurt as a child, it was a
relief to be someone."

By 1986, Mr. Larsson had talked to many young male devotees, most of
them attractive blond westerners, who told him they too had had sex
with Sai Baba. He believes Sai Baba has had sex with many more
reluctant male followers. Why do they do it? He says it's because
"everyone believes he is divine. They want to believe because they
have nothing else," he said.

For more than 50 years, Sai Baba has been India's most famous holy
man. The number of his followers is estimated at somewhere between 10
million and 50 million, and they include India's Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vaijpayee; Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of the Hard Rock
Restaurant chain; Simon de Jong, a former New Democrat MP from
Saskatchewan; and Kris Singhal, founder of Ottawa's Richcraft Homes.
Birendra, the king of Nepal, Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew's former
wife; and many other celebrities have also made pilgrimages to see the
guru.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Sai Baba's ashram,
and what was once a small village now has an airstrip, a university, a
hospital and enough hotels and apartment blocks to accommodate tens of
thousands of people. "When you see all these important people moving
around there, kings and queens moving around as if they were common
people, you start to believe he (Sai Baba) has a divine plan for all
mankind," said Mr. Larsson.

Twice a day, Sai Baba strolls among the thousands of devotees seated
in the main temple and chooses people from the crowd for private
interviews. Often those chosen for private interviews are young men
like Mr. Larsson once was. What prompted him to quit the organization
and start speaking out was the abuse suffered by a young Swedish man
who asked for his help as a psychotherapist, after six interviews with
Sai Baba.

"He told me about the same things that happened to me. The swami
opened his trousers and started to masturbate him. He withdrew, but
the swami insisted." Mr. Larsson then brought the man to a meeting of
Swedish leaders of the Sai Baba movement, and told his own story as
well. The majority of the leaders resigned, and Mr. Larsson, like many
other ex-devotees, put his story on the Internet.

Mr. Larsson's story is one of many that appear in another Internet
posting, The Findings, a 42-page document amassed by David and Faye
Bailey, former devotees who once lived in Puttaparthi, and edited a
magazine to propagate Sai Baba's teachings. Mr. Bailey is a British
concert pianist and taught students at the Sathya Sai Baba College.
When some of his students complained to him about being sexually
molested by Sai Baba, he quit the organization and began documenting
the stories of abuse.

Glen Meloy, a retired management consultant in California, is another
former devotee who is using the Internet to warn others to keep their
sons away from Sai Baba. After 26 years of following Sai Baba, he quit
when he heard the story of a 15-year-old California boy who said he
had been abused on multiple occasions. Mr. Meloy said this boy and
others in families of devotees "were born with the idea that Baba is
God. So they submit because they're afraid to displease their parents,
let alone God himself, who's asking them to participate in these
acts."

Mr. Meloy is now bombarding politicians, the White House, Indian
newspapers, and the FBI with allegations of abuse by the Indian
spiritual leader. He says he gets 50 to 100 e-mails and phone calls a
day from former devotees, many of them looking for advice on what to
do about the tales of abuse they have heard.

To date, only one former Canadian devotee is willing to go public with
his story of being sexually touched. Marc-Andre St. Jean of Montreal
said that when he visited Puttaparthi in 1992, Sai Baba took him into
a private interview room, and asked him to drop his pants. Then he
touched Mr. St. Jean's genitals. He said he had a kidney problem and
at the time he thought Sai Baba was just trying to help him.

But Mr. St. Jean's story, and that of the son of a Quebec family of
devotees, helped persuade seven co-ordinators of the Sai Baba movement
in Quebec to hand in their resignations.

Alain Groven of Montreal's South Shore was the province's
representative on the national Sai Baba council. He said he and other
co-ordinators resigned after comparing the stories of Quebecers to
those of Mr. Larsson and others who suffered more severe abuse.

Mr. Groven said that last year, the Canadian organization gave Sai
Baba $90,000 as a birthday present, and the 70 centres across Canada
probably donated even more this year, for the 75th birthday.

[One woman said that] she and the other Montreal-area co-ordinators
who resigned wonder why so many others have remained devotees. "But
when you believe he is God, and you have invested yourself in a
spiritual community, it involves too much to suddenly decide he is not
God. Your whole spiritual world falls apart. It's too hard to bear,"
she said.

V.P. Singh of Windsor has been president of the Canadian Sai Baba
organization for the past 30 years. He said he does not care to read
the allegations against Sai Baba, and like most other devotees, he
obeys his guru's command not to use the Internet.

"I have known him for 30 years, and I have had a nice experience," he
said. Mr. Singh said the Canadian and other leaders who have resigned
from the organization around the world "can do whatever they want to
do; it's their business."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba4.html

Divine downfall
The Daily Telegraph Saturday Magazine/October 27, 2000
By Mick Brown

Driving into town from the small Midwest airport where Carrie Young
and her husband had met me off the plane, she pulled a large picture
from the back seat of the station wagon. Framed in gilded-gold, the
picture showed the couple and their three children posing with an
elderly, chubby-faced Indian man with an ostentatious Afro haircut,
dressed in a red robe. Staring out of the picture, it seemed the
Youngs were shining with happiness. "And to think," said Carrie, "this
is the man we used to think was God."

The Youngs were what Americans call "straight arrows": honest, decent
and truthful. A handsome, clean-cut couple in their mid-40s; both
worked in the computer industry. The past year, said Jeff, had been
difficult, what with all that had happened, but they were pulling
things together.

A year ago, their son Sam had come to them with a shocking assertion:
Sathya Sai Baba, he told them - the man the Youngs had revered as God
for more than 20 years - was, in fact, a sexual abuser. Over the
course of four years, in his ashram, while Sam's parents sat a few
metres away - thrilled that their son should be in such close
proximity to the divine, secure in their belief that the god-man was
ministering to their son's spiritual welfare - Sai Baba was actually
subjecting him to sustained and systematic sexual abuse. "You'll meet
Sam at the restaurant," said Carrie. "He's prepared to talk about
this. He thinks it's important too."

Sam was a tall, blue-eyed, dreadlocked boy with a look that could only
be described as angelic. For the next four hours, they told me the
story of how they had come to Sai Baba; of their spiritual
aspirations, the dreams, the visions, the miracles - and the nightmare
their lives had turned into. And always, throughout the conversation,
the same question repeated itself: how could it possibly have come to
this?

For more than 50 years, Sai Baba has been India's most famous and most
powerful holy man - a worker of miracles, it is said, an instrument of
the divine. His following extends not only to every corner of the
Indian sub-continent, but to Europe, America, Australia, South America
and throughout Asia. Estimates of the total number of Baba devotees
around the world vary between 10 and 50 million.

To even begin to appreciate the scale and intensity of his following,
it is necessary to have some understanding of what his devotees
believe him to be, and of the powers that are attributed to him. Among
his devotees, Sai Baba is believed to be an avatar: literally, an
incarnation of the divine, one of a rare body of divine beings - such
as Krishna or Christ - who, it is said, take human form to further
man's spiritual evolution.

According to the four-volume hagiography written by his late secretary
and disciple, Professor N. Kasturi, Sai Baba was born "of immaculate
conception" in the southern Indian village of Puttaparthi in 1926. As
a young boy, he displayed signs of miraculous abilities, including
"materialising" flowers and sweets from nowhere. At 13, he declared
himself to be the reincarnation of a revered southern Indian saint,
Shirdi Sai Baba, who died in 1918. Challenged to prove his identity,
Kasturi writes, he threw a clump of jasmine flowers on the floor,
which arranged themselves to spell out "Sai Baba" in Telugu.

In 1950, he established a small ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam (Abode of
Serenity) in his home village. This has now grown to the size of a
small town, accommodating up to 10,000 people, with tens of thousands
more housed in the numerous hotels and apartment blocks that have
sprung up around. There is a primary school, university, college, and
hospital in the ashram, and innumerable other institutions around
India bearing Sai Baba's name. In India, his devotees include the
former prime minister, PV Narasimha Rao, the present Prime Minister,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and an assortment of senior judiciary,
academics, scientists and prominent politicians. Unlike other Indian
gurus who have travelled in the West, cultivating a following among
faith seekers and celebrities, Sai Baba has left India only once, in
the '70s, to visit Uganda. His reputation in the West spread largely
by word-of-mouth. His devotees tend to be drawn from the educated
middle-classes.

It is said that as an instrument of the divine, Sai Baba is
omniscient, capable of seeing the past, present and future of
everyone; his "miracles' include materialising various keepsakes for
devotees, including watches, rings and pendants, as well as vibhuti or
holy ash. Like Christ, he is said to have created food to feed
multitudes; to have "appeared" to disciples in times of crisis or
need. There are countless accounts of healings, and at least two of
his having raised people from the dead.

Sai Baba's teachings resemble a synthesis of all the great faiths,
with a particular emphasis on Christian charity, enshrined in his most
ubiquitous aphorism, "Love All, Serve All".

The principal event in Prasanthi Nilayam is darshan, in which Sai Baba
emerges twice daily from his quarters adjacent to the main temple and
walks among the thousands of devotees seated on the hard marble floor.
Hands reach forward to touch his feet or to pass him letters of
supplication. Occasionally he pauses, to offer a blessing or to
"materialise" vibhuti in an outstretched hand. It is during darshan
that Sai Baba, by some unseen criteria, chooses people from the crowd
for private interviews. Some devotees might wait for years.

Inevitably for such a potent figure, Sai Baba has, for years, been the
subject of rumbling allegations of fakery, fraud and worse. But he has
proved remarkably immune to controversy, the accusations doing little
to dent his growing following or the esteem in which he is held. But
all that, it appears, is about to change.

In recent months, a storm of allegations have appeared - spurred by a
document called The Findings, compiled by an English former devotee
named David Bailey - which threaten to shake the very foundations of
Sai Baba's holy empire. Sai Baba may represent an ancient tradition of
belief, but the instrument of accusation against him is an altogether
modern one. Originally published in document form, The Findings
quickly found its way on to the Internet, where it has become the
catalyst for a raging cyberspace debate about whether Sai Baba is
truly divine or, as one disenchanted former devotee describes him, "a
dangerous paedophile".

David Bailey became a devotee of Sai Baba in 1994, at the age of 40,
drawn by an interest in the guru's reputation as a spiritual healer.
"I couldn't see him as a God," says Bailey, "but I did think, this
could be a great holy man who has certain gifts."

An extrovert man, Bailey quickly became a ubiquitous and popular
figure among devotees. He travelled all over the world, speaking and
performing at meetings and would visit the ashram in India three or
four times a year. Over the course of four years Bailey claims to have
had more than 100 interviews with Baba. At Baba's instigation, Bailey
married a fellow devotee, and together they edited a magazine to
propagate Sai Baba's teachings. But the closer he came to Sai Baba,
Bailey told me, the more his doubts multiplied. The miracles, he
concluded, were B-grade conjuring tricks, the healings a myth, and
Baba's powers of being able to see into people's minds and lives
merely a clever use of information gleaned from others.

Bailey's dwindling faith was finally crushed when students from the
college came to him alleging that they had been sexually abused by the
guru. "They said, `Please sir, can you go back to England and help
us."' They were unable to tell their parents because they were afraid
of being disbelieved, and feared for their personal safety.'

Shocked by the allegations, Bailey severed his association with Sai
Baba and began to assemble a dossier of evidence from former devotees
around the world. The Findings is a chronicle of shattered illusions.
It contains allegations of fakery, con-trickery and financial
irregularities in the funding of the hospital and over a Sai Baba
project to supply water to villages around the ashram, which is
habitually trumpeted as evidence of his munificence.

Some of these allegations have been aired before. But the charges
contained in The Findings are of an altogether different magnitude.
They include verbatim accounts of abuse from devotees in Holland,
Australia, Germany and India. Conny Larsson, a well-known Swedish film
actor, says that not only did Sai Baba make homosexual advances
towards him, but he was also told by young male disciples of advances
the guru had made on them.

In April, Glen Meloy - a retired management consultant and a prominent
Californian devotee of some 26 years standing - received a letter from
an American woman who had read The Findings on the Internet. Her 15-
year-old son, she said, had also been abused. Included in the letter
was a four-page statement from the boy himself alleging multiple
sexual abuse.

Meloy launched his own Internet campaign to spread the allegations.
The effects of this have been enormous. There has been a rash of
defections from Sai Baba groups throughout the West. >From other
devotees, however, the response has been one of disbelief and denial.
"Sai Baba," says Bailey, "is a simple sex maniac who's on an ego trip,
after money, after power. He is a sheer conman." No, say others, "Sai
Baba is God."

The Young family are not among those listed in The Findings, but the
story of how they had come to Sai Baba was not atypical. In the early
'70s, Jeff had become interested in "the spiritual quest", initially
through psychedelics, then through yoga and meditation. He learned of
Sai Baba through a friend, and in 1974, at the age of 18, visited
India for the first time.

Three weeks later Jeff had a private interview with Sai Baba. "And I
remember feeling peace like I had never felt before; feeling loved
like I'd never been loved before." He returned to Los Angeles, where
he lived in a community with fellow Baba devotees. He met Carrie,
whose childhood had been characterised by parental abuse, and her
teenage years by drug abuse. She, too, became a devotee of Sai Baba.
They married, moved to the Midwest and started to raise a family. Over
the years, they visited Sai Baba from time to time. They founded a
community, home-schooled their children according to his teachings,
and strove to lead a life of purity and self-discipline.

Then, in 1995, things began to change. Their son, Sam, who was now 16,
visited the ashram with a family friend and was singled out for a
private interview with Sai Baba. Eighteen months later, the Youngs
returned to Puttaparthi; again Sai Baba singled out Sam and called him
and the family for an interview. "He made [a big fuss of] our group,"
said Jeff. "He materialised a ring for my son. He told everybody that
Sam had been a great Shirdi Sai devotee in a previous life - he just
poured it on." During the course of that visit, the Youngs were called
for seven interviews, while Sam had some 20 private meetings. The
family felt blissfully privileged. He materialised rings, watches,
bracelets, gave them robes and the silk lungi he wore next to his
skin.

The following year, the family returned to Puttaparthi three times. On
each occasion they would be gifted with two or three interviews. Sam
had twice as many. "We had no idea what was going on," said Jeff.

In 1995, Sam had come to his father. In a private interview, he said,
Sai Baba had "materialised" some oil in his hand, unbuttoned Sam's
trousers and rubbed his genitals. Jeff told his son he had had a
similar experience when he first met Sai Baba at 18. "I said to Sam,
what did you think about it? He said he didn't feel there was anything
sexual about it; it was like Sai Baba was doing his job. And I'd kind
of had that experience. A doctor gives a boy an exam. I'd taken it as
some kind of healing." Thereafter, Sam said nothing about his
experiences.

What had actually occurred was this: from anointing with oil, Sam told
me, Sai Baba's advances had grown progressively more abusive and
forceful. Sai Baba, he said, had kissed him, fondled him and attempted
to force him to perform oral sex, explaining that it was for
"purification". On almost every occasion Sai Baba had given him gifts
of watches, rings, trinkets and cash, in total around $10,000. He had
told him to say nothing to his parents. When Sam asked Baba why he was
doing this, he would tell him it was because Sam was "a special
devotee - that it was a great blessing". When Sam attempted to resist,
he said, Baba would threaten not to call his parents for any more
interviews. "I felt obligations, to my parents, our friends, all the
thousands of people sitting outside who all wanted to be in the
position I was in, not knowing what was really there.

"And then the big thing was the concept that he is God, from day one,
so when he says, don't tell anybody ..."

In fact, Sam did tell somebody. He confided what was happening to two
other American teenagers who were students at the Puttaparthi college.
They had had similar experiences. "They justified it as a divine
experience. But he was doing things to me that I didn't want to do,
and I was just letting it happen."

In 1998, according to Sam, Sai Baba attempted to rape him. The
following year, the day before the family were leaving for
Puttaparthi, he told his father he did not want to see Sai Baba alone,
without specifying why. Jeff sensed something was amiss. "I told him,
you must always be true to your conscience. The family don't care if
we never have another interview again." In Puttaparthi, Sam was again
called for a private interview. When Sai Baba attempted to get him to
perform oral sex, Sam walked out for the last time, although it would
be some months before he summoned the nerve to tell his parents. Jeff
said it took some weeks to "process" what they were hearing. "We knew
that Sam was telling the truth, but I still asked myself, what could
this mean?"

The Youngs contacted a leading figure in the American Sai Baba
organisation. "He said it must be some kind of test," said Jeff, "and
for a moment we felt better."

Then Dr Michael Goldstein, the man in charge of the entire Baba
organisation in America, flew in from California to meet them. "He
said, we've got to talk to Baba about this; words are not enough;
faith must be restored." Goldstein flew to India. He returned to tell
the Youngs that Sai Baba had told him "he is pure", and that Goldstein
accepted that. He asked Jeff if he thought his son might be
delusional. The Youngs no longer speak with Goldstein.

A senior devotee, a trustee for the Sathya Sai Baba Society of
America, Jerry Hague, told me that he and his wife had been devotees
for 25 years. He was deeply shocked at the allegations and could not
begin to understand them.

"All I know in my heart is that Swami is the purest of the purest, and
that everything he does is for the highest good of everybody." This
denial - Sai Baba is God, God doesn't do these things - was a theme
that was echoed by innumerable other devotees I spoke to in America
and Britain.

Among those people named in The Findings is Dr D Bhatia, the former
head of the blood bank at the Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital,
who, it is claimed, had a longstanding sexual relationship with Sai
Baba. Bhatia resigned from his post at the hospital in December 1999
and is now an administrator at a hospital in New Delhi.

Contacted by phone, Bhatia said that he had become a devotee of Sai
Baba in 1971, at the age of 20, and that he had had sexual relations
with Sai Baba for "15 or 16 years". In that time, he said, he was also
aware that Sai Baba had relations with "many, many" students from the
college and school, and with devotees from overseas.

One of the most remarkable facets of this controversy has been the
role of the Internet. Even 10 years ago, it is doubtful whether the
allegations against Sai Baba would have spread so far and so fast.

Conny Larsson has set up a support group for those claiming abuse by
Sai Baba, and says he receives some 20-30 e-mails a day from victims
"crying out for help. You cannot leave these people in the desert".

In America, the campaign organised by Glen Meloy has concentrated on
"e-bombing" copies of the allegations to senators, the White House,
the FBI and Indian newspapers. The most conspicuous success of the
campaign came in September when Unesco withdrew its co-sponsorship and
participation from an education conference at Puttaparthi, citing
"deep concern" over the allegations of sexual abuse.

For all the allegations laid against him over the years, Sai Baba has
never been charged with any crime, sexual or otherwise. And his
exalted position in India has until now kept him safely insulated from
any kind of public inquiry.

Among former devotees, there is a sense of shock, betrayal, anger - a
hunger, if not for revenge, then for accountability. "We know that
many victims have been physically molested," Glen Meloy told me, "but
in reality all the former devotees have been spiritually raped because
we chose to believe that this man was the highest. I certainly
considered him to be the God of gods, the creator of all creation, my
friend, my everything. The intense desire I have to expose him now is
directly proportionate to the amount of devotion I gave him."

Sitting in the restaurant in a small, homely Midwest town, Jeff Young
struggled to understand what had led him to believe that an Indian
guru could be God.

Looking back, he said, when Sam finally told him about the sexual
abuse, he didn't find it difficult to believe at all. "I realised, I'd
really known this for a long time but didn't really know it." Jeff
shook his head. " You ask yourself, how could millions of people be
wrong? How could millions of people be tricked? .. We'd spent 23 years
raising our family to believe in him, going upstream against a river.
You think, how could I have been so wrong?"

Whether he is divine, "a demonic force", as Glen Meloy describes him,
or simply an accomplished fakir and confidence trickster, Sai Baba has
said nothing publicly about the allegations. When contacted, K.
Chakravarthi, secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, said, "We have no
time for these matters. I have nothing to say."

Sai Baba's principal English translator, Anil Kumar, said every great
religious teacher had faced criticism. Allegations had been made at
Sai Baba since childhood, "but with every criticism he becomes more
and more triumphant."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba3.html

Scandal engulfs guru's empire
Divine Downfall

The Age (Australia)/November 12, 2000
By Padraic Murphy

For Hans de Kraker, a trip to India to see Sathya Sai Baba, a self-
proclaimed god with a following of up to 25 million devotees, was a
spiritual quest. But he said the pilgrimage ended when the 73-year-old
guru tried to force him to perform oral sex.

Mr de Kraker, who now lives in Sydney, has gone public to alert
devotees to a sex scandal that is threatening to undo Sai Baba, by far
the most popular of India's new-age gurus.

"It is devastating to realise the man you see as a spiritual master is
simply conning people for his own sexual gratification," Mr de Kraker,
32, said. "After a while you notice that the people chosen for private
interviews tend to be good-looking young males."

Mr de Kraker, who first visited Sai Baba's ashram in 1992, said the
guru would regularly rub oil on his genitals, claiming it was a
religious cleansing, and eventually tried to force him to perform oral
sex. He was kicked out of the ashram after alerting senior officials
in 1996.

Mr de Kraker's story is not an isolated one, and a growing list of
alleged victims is threatening to engulf the Sai Baba organisation,
which has an estimated worth of $6billion. Droves have left after
allegations of paedophilia and the rape of male followers.

Sai Baba's main ashram in Puttaparthi, India, is the largest in the
world and can sleep up to 10,000 people. That number of people
regularly turn out to "darshan", a twice-daily ritual in which Sai
Baba walks among devotees choosing people for private interviews.

It is in these private interviews that many of the alleged assaults
against males between the ages of seven and 30 take place. Former
devotees said the interviews usually involved family groups, but when
young males were involved they were ushered into a second room, behind
what has come to be known as the "curtain of shame".

The organisation has been shut down in Sweden after revelations that
Conny Larson, now a film star in that country, was molested by Sai
Baba. The FBI is looking into similar allegations made by American
children and there are investigations into the sect in France and
Germany.

Both UNESCO and Flinders University in South Australia and Flinders
University in South Australia pulled out of a conference organised by
Sai Baba in September because of concerns about the guru's sexual
conduct. In Australia, the sect is estimated to have up to 5000
followers. It runs schools in northern NSW and Western Australia, and
has meditation centres across the country.

Now Australian victims are preparing documents to present to federal
authorities about the guru's activities.

Terry Gallagher, a property developer from Kiama, in New South Wales,
regularly visited Sai Baba in the early 1990s and spent three years as
the coordinator of the group in Australia. He left the group in the
mid '90s after boys in Indian schools run by Sai Baba complained to
him of sexual abuse.

"Spiritually it is devastating. I'm concerned because of both the
sexual abuse of young boys, and the spiritual fraud Sai Baba
perpetrates," Mr Gallagher said.

Sri Ramanathan, a former Sri Lankan judge and head of the Sai Baba
Organisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea, refuses to warn
families taking children to Puttaparthi about the allegations.

"All god men have these kind of allegations levelled at them, why
should I warn people of these allegations, they are just allegations?"
he said. "He is a holy man. I know that (these allegations) cannot be
proved."

Raphael Aron, the director of Cult Counselling, said: "These
organisations are run by one individual and there are never any
complaint mechanisms. When these sorts of allegations come up, the
usual response is that it is some kind of test of faith and the whole
thing is denied."

Several former devotees who spoke to The Sunday Age said they had been
thrown out of Sai Baba's ashrams when they questioned leaders about
the charges.

The sexual exploits of the guru were exposed 30 years ago by Tal
Brooke, a former high-ranked devotee who now runs a cult-watch group
in the US. "It appears that now he is out of control. The problem is
that people have such faith that these allegations would kill them
spiritually," he said from his home in California.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba2.html

Screen Star James Mason Laid to Rest After 16 Years
Reuters/November 25, 2000

London - Hollywood screen legend James Mason has been finally laid to
rest -- 16 years after his death, the Daily Telegraph newspaper
reported on Saturday.

Mason's children buried his ashes in a Swiss cemetery on Friday after
an acrimonious legal battle over the British actor's estate with their
stepmother Clarissa Kaye, and later with the administrators of her
estate, the paper said.

The wrangle became so bitter that for many years Mason's children,
daughter Portland and son Morgan, had no idea of the whereabouts of
their father's ashes. Portland finally tracked them to a bank vault in
Geneva.

``It is like a dream,'' the Daily Telegraph quoted Portland Mason as
saying after the burial ceremony. ``Sometimes I thought it would never
happen. It has been so, so long,'' she said.

Mason, who died of a heart attack aged 75 in 1984, was the star of
such screen classics as ``A Star is Born,'' ``The Desert Fox,''
``Lolita'' and ``North by Northwest.''

The paper said that the actor felt his second wife Clarissa had
sacrificed a Hollywood career of her own when she agreed to move to
Lake Geneva with him in 1963. He wanted her to be able to live in
comfort after his death. The children believed he intended for them to
inherit his estimated 15 million pound fortune on Clarissa's death,
the paper said. But Clarissa, who died six years ago, bequeathed
everything to a trust with unknown benefactors.

The children believe the benefactors are devotees of Sathya Sai Baba,
an Indian religious sect, which Clarissa became close to in the last
years of her life. They are continuing litigation in the hope of
gaining control of at least part of their father's estate.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba8.html

Devotee 'Tricked Woman Into Sex'
The (London) Times/July 5, 2000
By Simon De Bruxelles

A Follower of an Indian guru tricked a woman into having sex with him
by promising that it would cure her "bad vibrations", a court was told
yesterday.

Priyakant Shah, 47, a shopkeeper from Plymouth, allegedly persuaded
the mother of three that he was a messenger from the Hindu mystic Sai
Baba and he had been ordered in a dream to have sex with her. His
alleged victim, who is also of Asian origin, told Plymouth Crown Court
that the relationship began after Mr Shah had "engineered" her divorce
from her husband, whom she subsequently remarried.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she met Mr Shah
in the mid-1980s when he ran a temple in South London devoted to the
worship of the 73-year-old guru who claims 30 million followers
worldwide.

The woman, who was 37 or 38 at the time, said Mr Shah persuaded her to
leave her husband and take her daughters to live in a flat above his
shop in Plymouth.

She said: "I had been praying in the prayer room and Shah was asleep
on a bed in there. As I prayed, I heard him say 'No, Baba, no, Swami,
I cannot do that'.

"I asked him later what he meant and he told me that I would not
believe it, but Baba had said he had worked so hard with me but I was
still carrying bad vibrations and that he had to have physical contact
with me.

"I asked him what he meant and he said he had to have sexual
intercourse with me. It was the only way the bad vibrations would come
out. I said 'no way'."

She said she woke later to find Mr Shah naked by her bedside and he
had made her have sex with him.

Mr Shah denies two charges of procuring a woman to have sex by false
pretences and one of indecently assaulting one of her daughters, who
was 12 or 13 at the time.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba1.html

Them are few things sadder than a good guru gone bad. The cynics among
us may object that a "good guru" is a contradiction in terms and
certainly the spectacle of corrupt and authoritarian cults in recent
years has cast a pall over the role of spiritual teachers.
Nevertheless I'm willing to maintain that a significant amount of
wisdom and compassionate works have proceeded from various gurus and
their followers, and I resist the impulse to write off the whole bunch
as charlatans and power-trippers
From all indication Swami Muktananda helped thousands of people in his
day - a fact that even disillusioned ex-devotees don't dispute.
However, the last few years of his life saw a proliferation of abuses
which are only now coming to light William Rodarmor; a former lawyer,
park ranger, wilderness trip leader and presently a graduate student
at the University of California at Berkeley journalism school has
spent months interviewing former and current followers of Muktananda
for this investigative article. CQ independently contacted his major
sources and confirmed the authenticity of their quotes and
allegations. -Jay Kinney

The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda
by William Rodarmor

Illustrated by Matthew Wuerker

"There is no deity superior to the Guru, no gain better than the
Guru's grace ... no state higher than meditation on the Guru." -
Muktananda

ON THE American consciousness circuit, Baba Muktananda was known as
the "guru's guru," one of the most respected meditation masters ever
to come out of India. Respected, that is, until now.

When Baba Ram Dass introduced him to the U.S. in 1970. Muktananda was
still largely unknown. Thanks to Muktananda's spiritual power, his
Siddha meditation movement quickly took root in the fertile soil of
the American growth movement. By the time he died of heart failure in
October 1982, Muktananda's followers had built him 31 ashrams, or
meditation centers, around the world. When crowds saw Muktananda step
from a black limousine to a waiting Lear jet, it was clear that the
diminutive, orange-robed Indian was an American-style success.

At various times, Jerry Brown, Werner Erhard, John Denver, Marsha
Mason; James Taylor, Carry Simon, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and Meg
Christian have all been interested in Muktananda's movement. The media
coordinator at the large Oakland, California, ashram is former Black
Panther leader Erika Huggins.

Baba Muktananda said he was a Siddha, the representative of a
centuries-old Hindu lineage. According to his official biography, he
wandered across India as a young man, going from teacher to teacher,
living the chaste, austere life of a monk. In Ganeshpuri, near Bombay,
he became the disciple of Nityananda, a Siddha guru of awesome yogic
powers. After years of meditation, Muktananda experienced
enlightenment. When Nityananda died in 1960, Muktananda said the guru
passed the Siddha mantle to him on his deathbed, though some of
Nityananda's followers in India dispute the claim. When Muktananda
himself died, a sympathetic press still saw him as a spiritual Mr.
Clean, and his two successors, a brother-sister team of swamis,
continue to draw thousands of people searching for higher
consciousness.

To most of his followers, Muktananda was a great master. But to
others, he was a man unable to live up to the high principles of his
own teachings. "When we first approach a Guru," Muktananda wrote, "we
should carefully examine his qualities and his actions. He should have
conquered desire and anger and banished infatuation from his heart."
For many, that was a warning that was understood too late.

Some of Muktananda's most important former followers now charge that
the guru repeatedly violated his vow of chastity, made millions of
dollars from his followers' labors: and allowed guns and violence in
his ashrams. The accusations have been denied by the swamis who took
over his movement after the master died.

In the course of preparing this story, I talked with 25 present and
former devotees; most of the interviews are on tape. Some people would
only talk to me if promised anonymity, and some are bitter at what
they feel was Muktananda's betrayal of their trust. All agree that
Muktananda was a man of unusual power. They differ over the ways he
used it.

"I don't have sex for the same reason you do: because it feels so
good." -Muktananda

IN HIS teachings Muktananda put a lot of emphasis on sex - most of it
negative. Curbing the sex drive released the kundalini energy that led
to enlightenment, he said. The swami himself claimed to be completely
celibate.

Members of the guru's inner circle, however, say Muktananda regularly
had sex with his female devotees. Michael Dinga, an Oakland contractor
who was head of construction for the ashram and a trustee of the
foundation, said the guru's sexual exploits were common knowledge in
the ashram. "It was supposed to be Muktananda's big secret," said
Dinga, "but since many of the girls were in their early to middle
teens, it was hard to keep it secret."

A young woman I am calling "Mary" said the guru seduced her at the
main American ashram at South Fallsburg, New York, in 1981. Mary was
in her early twenties at the time. Muktananda was 73.

At South Fallsburg, Muktananda used to stand behind a curtain in the
evening, watching the girls coming back to the dormitory. He asked
Mary to come to his bedroom several times, and gave her gifts of money
and jewelry. Finally, she did. When he then told her to undress, she
was shocked, but she obeyed.

"He had a special area which I assume he used for his sexual affairs.
It was similar to a gynecologist's table, but without the
stirrups." (To his later chagrin, Michael Dinga realized he had built
the table himself.) "He didn't have an erection," Mary said, "but he
inserted about as much as he could. He was standing up, and his eyes
were rolled up to the ceiling. He looked as if he was in some sort of
ecstasy." When the session was over, Muktananda ordered the girl to
come back the next day, and added, "Don't wear underwear."

On the first night, Muktananda had tried to convince Mary she was
being initiated into tantric yoga - the yoga of sex. The next night,
he didn't bother. "It was like 'Okay, you're here, take off your
clothes. get on the table and let's do it.' Just very straight, hard,
cold sex."

Mary told two people about what had happened to her. Neither was
exactly surprised.

Michael's wife Chandra was disturbed. Chandra was probably the most
important American in the movement. As head of food services, she saw
Muktananda daily, and knew what was going on. "Whoever was in his
kitchen was in some way molested," she said. A girl I'll call "Nina"
used to work for Chandra. One day, the guru remarked to her in Hindi,
"Sex with Nina is very good." Nina's mother was later made a swami.

Chandra said she had rationalized the guru's having sex in the past,
but was dismayed to learn it had happened to her young friend Mary.
Aware of Muktananda's power over people who were devoted to him, she
saw it as a form of rape.

The other person Mary confided in was Malti, Muktananda's longtime
translator.

Mary said Malti wasn't surprised when she told her about being seduced
by the aged guru. "She told me people had been coming to her with this
for years and years," Mary said. "She was caught in the middle." Malti
and her brother, who have taken the names Chidvilasananda and
Nityananda, are the movement's new leaders.

Another of Muktananda's victims was a woman I'll call "Jennifer." She
says Muktananda raped her at the main Indian ashram at Ganeshpuri in
the spring of 1978. He ordered Jennifer to come to his bedroom late
one night, and told her to take her clothes off. "I was in shock," she
said, "but over the years, I had learned you never say no to anything
that he asked you to do...."

Muktananda had intercourse with Jennifer for an hour, she said, and
was quite proud of the fact. "He kept saying, 'Sixty minutes,'" she
said. "He claimed he was using the real Indian positions, not the
westernized ones used in America." While he had sex, the guru felt
like conversing, but Jennifer found she couldn't say a word. "The main
thing he wanted to know was how old I was when I first got my period.
I answered something, and he said, 'That's good, you're a pure girl.'"
Devastated by the event, Jennifer made plans to leave the ashram as
soon as possible, but Muktananda continued to be interested in her.
"He used to watch me getting undressed through the keyhole," she said.
She would open the door and see the guru outside "I became rather
scared of him, because he kept coming to my room at night."

Both women said the Ganeshpuri ashram was arranged to suit
Muktananda's convenience.

"He had a secret passageway from his house to the young girls'
dormitory," Mary said. "Whoever he was carrying on with, he had
switched to that dorm." The guru often visited the girls' dormitory
while they were undressing. "He would come up anytime he wanted to"
Jennifer said, "and we would just giggle. In the early days, I never
thought of him as having sexual desires. He was the guru..." Mary knew
otherwise: she talked with at least eight other young girls who had
sex with Muktananda. "I knew that he had girls marching in and out of
his bedroom all night long," she said.

While his followers were renovating a Miami hotel in 1979, Muktananda
slept on the women's floor, and ordered that the youngest be put in
the rooms closest to his, and the older ones down the hall.

"You always knew who he was carrying on with," said Chandra. "They
came down the next day with a new gold bracelet or a new pair of
earrings." Around the ashram, said Mary, people knew that "anyone who
had jewelry was going to his room a lot."

For a time, Muktananda's followers found ways to rationalize his
behavior. He wasn't really penetrating his victims, they said. Or he
wasn't ejaculating - an important distinction to some, since retaining
the semen was supposed to be a way of conserving the kundalini energy.

Ultimately, Chandra felt it didn't make any difference. "If you're
going to be celibate, and you're going to preach celibacy, you don't
put it in halfway, and then pull it out. You live what you preach..."

After years of repressing their growing doubts about Muktananda,
Michael and Chandra finally drew the line when they learned he was
molesting a 13-year-old girl. She had been entrusted to the ashram by
her parents, and was being cared for by Muktananda's laundress and
chauffeur. The laundress "told me Baba was doing things to her," said
Chandra. "I think he was probing around in her." The laundress
suggested it was only "Baba's way of loving her," but Chandra was
appalled.

Charges of sex against Muktananda continued. In 1981, one of
Muktananda's swamis, Stan Trout, wrote an open letter accusing his
guru of molesting Little girls on the pretext of checking their
virginity. The letter caused a stir, but word didn't go beyond the
ashram. In a "Memo from Baba," Muktananda merely answered that
"devotees should know the truth by their own experience, not by the
letters that they receive... You should be happy that I'm still alive
and healthy and that they haven't tried to hang me."

"Wretched is he who cannot observe discipline and restraint even in an
ashram." -Muktananda

I N THE first of his eight years with Muktananda, Yale dropout Richard
Grimes said he was "in a funny kind of grace period, where you're so
involved with the beginning of inner Life that you don't really notice
what is going on." But then he started seeing things that didn't jibe
with his idea of a meditation retreat.

"Muktananda had a ferocious temper," said Grimes, "and would scream or
yell at someone for no seeming reason." He saw the guru beating people
on many occasions. "In India, if peasants were caught stealing a
coconut from his ashram, Muktananda would often beat them," Grimes
said. The people in the ashram thought it was a great honor to be
beaten by the guru. No one asked the peasants' opinion.

Muktananda's ubiquitous valet, Noni Patel, was a regular target of his
master's wrath. While on tour in Denver, Noni came down to the kitchen
to be treated for a strange wound in his side. "At first, he wouldn't
say how he had gotten it," Grimes' wife Lotte recalled. "Later it came
out that Baba had stabbed him with a fork."

When ex-devotees talked about strong-arm tactics against devotees, the
names of two people close to Muktananda kept coming up. One was David
Lynn, known as Sripati, an ex-Marine Vietnam vet. The other was Joe
Don Looney, an ex-football player with a reputation for troublemaking
on the five NFL teams he played for, and a criminal record. They were
known as the "enforcers"; Muktananda used them to keep people in line.

On the guru's orders, Sripati once picked a public fight with then-
swami Stan Trout at the South Fallsburg ashram. He came down from
Boston, where Muktananda was staying, and punched Trout to the ground
without provocation. Long-time devotee Abed Simli saw the attack, but
figured Sripati had just flipped out. Michael Dinga knew otherwise.
Muktananda had phoned him the morning before the beating, and told him
Trout's ego was getting too big, and that he was sending Sripati to
set him straight. Dinga, a big man, was instructed not to interfere.

In India, Dinga and a man called Peter Polivka witnessed Muktananda's
valet Noni Patel give a particularly brutal beating to a young
follower: A German boy in his twenties, whom Dinga described as
"obviously in a disturbed state" had started flailing around during a
meditation intensive. The German was hauled outside, put under a cold
shower, stripped naked, and laid out on a concrete slab behind the
ashram. Dinga said the German just sat in a full lotus position, and
tried to steel himself against what happened next.

Noni Patel took a rubber hose, a foot-and-a-half long, and beat and
questioned the boy for thirty minutes while a large black man called
Hanuman held him. "They were full-strength blows," said Dinga, "and
they raised horrible welts on the boy's body."

There exists a long tradition in the East of masters beating their
students. Tibetan and Zen Buddhist stories are full of sharp blows
that stop the students rational minds long enough for them to become
enlightened. Couldn't that have been what Muktananda was doing?

"It could be seen that way," said Richard Grimes. "For years we
thought that every discrepancy was because he lived outside the laws
of morality He could do anything he wanted. That in itself is the
biggest danger of having a perfect master lead any kind of group -
there's no safeguard."

Chandra Dinga said that as Muktananda's power grew, he ignored normal
standards of behavior. "He felt he was above and beyond the law," she
said. "It went from roughing people up who didn't do what he wanted,
to eventually, at the end, having firearms."

Though the ashrams were meditation centers, a surprising number of
people in them had guns. Chandra saw Noni's gun, Muktananda's
successor Subash's gun, and the shotgun Muktananda kept in his
bedroom. Others saw guns in the hands of "enforcer" Sripati and ashram
manager Yogi Ram. The manager of the Indian ashram showed Richard
Grimes a pistol that had been smuggled into India for his use. One
devotee opened a paper bag in an ashram vehicle in Santa Monica, and
found ammunition in it.

A woman who ran the ashram bakery for many years said she knew some
people had guns, but that it never bothered her. The Santa Monica
ashram, for example, was in a very rough neighborhood, she said, and
the guns were strictly for protection.

"In an ashram, one should not fritter one's precious time in a
precious place on eating and drinking, sleeping, gossiping and talking
idly." -Muktananda

BY ALL accounts, devotees in the ashrams worked hard under trying
conditions. In India, they were isolated from their culture. Even in
the American ashrams, close friendships were frowned on, and
Muktananda strongly discouraged devotees from visiting their families.
A woman I'm calling "Sally" used to get up for work at 3:30 a.m. She
said her day was spent in work, chanting, meditation, and silence.
"Some days, you couldn't talk to anyone all day long. I would get very
lonely." Recorded chants were often played over loudspeakers. Even a
woman who is still close to the movement admitted that "the long hours
were a drag."

Though he was Muktananda's right-hand man for construction, Michael
Dinga worked "under incredible schedules with ridiculous budgets,"
putting in the same hours as his crew. In the six-and-a-half years he
was with the ashram, he said he had a total of two weeks off.

As time went on, Dinga came to be bothered by what he saw as
exploitation: "I saw the way people were manipulated, how they would
work in all sincerity and all devotion [with] no idea that they were
being laughed at and taken advantage of."

"Even a penny coming as a gift should be regarded as belonging to God
and religion." -Muktananda

MUKTANANDA'S movement was both a spiritual and a financial success.
Once Siddha meditation caught on, said Chandra Dinga, "money poured
into the ashram." Particularly lucrative were the two-day "meditation
intensives" given by Muktananda, and now by his successors. Today, an
intensive led by the two new gurus costs $200. (Money orders or
cashier's checks only, please. No credit cards or personal checks.) An
intensive given in Oakland in May 1983 drew 1200 participants, and
people had to be turned away. At $200 a head, Chidvilasananda and
Nityananda's labors earned the ashram nearly a quarter of a million
dollars in a single weekend.

There was always a lot of secrecy around ashram affairs, Lotte Grimes
remarked. During Muktananda's lifetime, that secrecy applied to money
matters with a vengeance.

The number of people who came to intensives, for example, was a secret
even from the devotees. Simple multiplication would tell anyone how
much money was coming in. And when Richard Grimes set up a restaurant
at the Oakland ashram, he said Muktananda "had a fit" when he found
out that Grimes had been keeping his own records of the take.

Food services head Chandra Dinga said the restaurants in the various
ashrams were always big money-makers, where devotees worked long hours
for free. On tour during the summer, she said, they would feed over a
thousand people, and bring in three thousand dollars in cash a day.
Sally said that a breakfast that sold for two dollars actually cost
the ashram about three cents.

Donations further fattened the coffers. if somebody important was
coming to the ashram, Chandra's job was to try and get them to give a
feast and to make a large donation. $1500 to $3000 was considered
appropriate. "There was just a constant flow of money into his
pockets," said Chandra, "it let him get whatever he wanted to get, and
let him buy people."

Muktananda himself was said to have been very attached to money. "For
years, he catered only to those who were wealthy," said Richard
Grimes. "He spent all the time outside of his public performances
seeing privately anyone who had a lot of money."

A parade of Mercedes-Benzes used to drive up to the Ganeshpuri ashram
with rich visitors, said Grimes. In Oakland, Lotte Grimes saw Malti
order a list drawn up of everybody in the ashram who had money, to
arrange private interviews with Muktananda, by his orders.

Devotees, on the other hand, had to get by on small stipends, if they
got anything. Chandra Dinga, despite her status as head of food
services, never got more than $100 a month. Devotees with less
prestige were completely dependent on the guru's generosity. Sally
once cried for two days when she broke her glasses, knowing she would
have to beg Muktananda for another pair.

How much money did Muktananda amass from his efforts? Even the
officers of the foundation that ostensibly ran Muktananda's affairs
never knew for sure.

Michael Dinga was a foundation trustee, and used to cosign for
deposits to the ashram's Swiss bank accounts, but the amounts on the
papers were always left blank. In 1977, however, he got a hint. Ron
Friedland, the president of the foundation, told Dinga that Muktananda
had 1.3 million dollars in Switzerland. Three years later, Muktananda
told Chandra it was more like five million. "And then he laughed, and
said, 'There's more than that.'"

A woman called Amma, who was Muktananda's companion for more than
twenty years, told the Dingas that all the accounts were in the names
of Muktananda's eventual successors, Chidvilasananda and Nityananda.

Michael and Chandra Dinga finally quit the ashram in December 1980.
They had served Muktananda for a combined total of sixteen-and-a-half
years, and had risen to positions of real importance. Both knew
exactly how the ashram operated.

Together, they went to Muktananda to tell him why they wanted to
leave. The guru wasn't pleased. To get the Dingas to stay, Muktananda
called on everything he thought would stir them. He offered them a
car, a house, and money. When that failed, he started to weep. "You're
my blood, my family," he said. Then Muktananda abruptly changed tack.
"You've come on an inauspicious day," he said. "I can't give you my
blessing." Next morning, he called Chandra on the public intercom and
said she could leave immediately.

After they left, the Dingas say they were denounced by the guru, and
their lives threatened.

"Muktananda claimed he had thrown us out because Chandra was a whore"
said Dinga, "that she was having sex with the young boys who worked in
the restaurant. Later he said I had a harem. In other words, he was
accusing us of all the things he was doing himself." Muktananda also
claimed that none of the buildings Michael had built were any good.
When one of Michael's crew stood up for him, he was threatened
physically.

Leaving all their friends behind in the ashram, the Dingas moved to
the San Francisco area, but Muktananda's enmity followed them. Their
doorbell and telephone started ringing at odd hours, and Michael saw
the "enforcers" running away from their door one night. A cruel hoax
was played on Chandra. Someone followed her when she took her cat to
the vet, then phoned the vet's office with a message that her husband
had been in a bad accident. Chandra waited frantically at Berkeley's
Alta Bates Hospital for three quarters of an hour, only to learn that
Michael was at work, unhurt.

Death threats started to reach the Dingas toward the end of April
1981, six months after they had left the ashram. On May 7, Sripati and
Joe Don Looney visited Lotte Grimes at her job in Emeryville with a
frightening piece of information: "Tell Chandra this is a message from
Baba: Chandra only has two months to live." Another ex-follower said
he got a similar message: If the Dingas didn't keep quiet, acid would
be thrown in Chandra's face; Michael would be castrated.

The Grimeses and the Dingas reported the threats to the police. The
Dingas hired a lawyer.

The threats stopped soon after Berkeley police officer Clarick Brown
called on the Oakland ashram, but Chandra was badly frightened. Some
ex-followers still are.

Michael and Chandra's departure sparked a small exodus from the
ashram. Some of the ex-followers began to meet and compare notes on
their experiences in the ashram. "We were amazed and rejuvenated,"
said Richard Grimes. "We got more energy from learning he was a con
man than we ever did thinking he was a real person."

Just the same, the devotees who left the ashram are still dealing with
the damage done to their lives. Michael and Chandra's marriage broke
up, as did Sally's. Michael is only now coming out of a period of
depression and emptiness. Richard and Lotte Grimes are bitter at
having wasted years of their lives in the ashram. Stan Trout still
considers Muktananda a great yogi, but a tragically flawed man.

Chandra Dinga has taken years to come to terms with her experience
with Muktananda; "Your whole frame of reference becomes askew," she
said. "What you would normally think to be right or wrong no longer
has any place. The underlying premise is that everything the guru does
is for your own good. The guru does no wrong. When I finally realized
that everything he did was not for our own good, I had to leave."

Muktananda's two successors were at the Oakland ashram in May end I
asked Swami Chidvilasananda about the accusations against her guru.

To her knowledge, did Muktananda have sex with women in the ashram?
"Not as far as I saw," she said carefully. What about the charge that
Muktananda had sex with young girls? "Those girls never came to us,"
Chidvilasananda said. "And we never saw it, we only heard it when
Chandra talked to everybody else."

Chidvilasananda also denied that there was a bank account in
Switzerland. When asked about the ashram's finances, she said that all
income was put back into facilities. "We are a break-even
proposition," the new leader said.

As for the alleged beatings, she said that Americans had their own
ways of doing things. She said, "You can't blame the guru, because the
guru doesn't teach that."

Why then, I asked, do the other ex-devotees I talked with support the
Dingas in their charges?

Chidvilasananda replied, "I'm very glad they gave you a very nice
story to cover themselves up and I want to tell you I don't want to
get into this story because I know their story, too, and I do not want
to say anything about it." When I said, "You have a chance to tell us
whether or not you think these are accurate charges, falsehoods, or
delusions," Malti's answer was: "I'm not going to probe into people's
minds and try to find out what the truth is."

Two swamis and a number of present followers also said the charges
were not true. Others say they simply don't believe them.

On the subject of money, foundation chief Ed Oliver conceded in an
October 1, l983, interview with the Los Angeles Times that there is a
Swiss account with 1.5 million dollars in it. And when I repeated
Swami Chidvilasananda's denials about women complaining to her, Mary,
the woman who says the guru seduced her in South Fallsburg, said,
"Well, that's an out-and-out lie."

"The sins committed at any other place are destroyed at a holy centre,
but those committed at a holy centre stick tenaciously - it is
difficult to wash them away." -Muktananda

THIS IS a story of serious accusations made against a spiritual leader
who is still prayed to and revered by thousands. Even his detractors
say Muktananda gave them a great deal in the beginning. "He put out a
force field around him," said Michael Dinga. "You could palpably feel
the force coming off him. It gave me the feeling I had latched onto
something that would answer my questions." Former devotees say
Muktananda's eyes had a kind of light; when they first met the guru,
he radiated love and benevolence. He also had a way of making his
devotees feel special.

"I think he liked me so much because I wasn't taken by all the visions
and the sounds," said Chandra, "that I understood that having an
experience of God was something much more substantial and more
ordinary." Chandra still feels that spirituality is the most important
thing in her life. She says the gradual unfolding of the dark side of
her guru's personality chipped away at her love and respect. "When you
have a loved one you never dream that he might hurt you. At the end, I
was devastated." Yet despite the unsavory conclusion to her ten years
with the swami, Chandra still notes, "if I had it to do over again, I
still wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world."

In a way, the sex, the violence, and the corruption aren't the real
point. Muktananda's personal shortcomings were bad enough, explained
Michael Dinga, but "the worst of it was that he wasn't who he said he
was."

A person can make spiritual progress under a corrupt master, just as
placebos can actually make you feel better. But how far can a person
really grow spiritually under a master who doesn't himself live the
truth? There was a tremendous split between what Muktananda preached
and what he did, and his hypocrisy only made it worse. His successors
are now in a dilemma: If they admit their guru's sins, Chidvilasananda
and Nityananda lose their god-figure, and weaken their claim to a
lineage of perfect masters. But if they don't, people who come to them
looking for truth are courting disappointment.

Stan Trout, formerly Swami Abhayananda, served Muktananda for ten
years as a teacher and ashram director. He left in 1981. "My summary
withdrawal from Muktananda's organization was also a withdrawal from
what I had considered my fraternal family, my friends, and able all,
my life's work," he wrote us. He sent this open letter after reading a
draft of "The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda," in which he is quoted.
- Art Kleiner

Letter From a Former Swami

by Stan Trout

I'd like to add this letter, if possible, as an appendix to the
article on Muktananda by William Rodarmor. It is a statement of my
thoughts and opinions of Muktananda after two years of deep
deliberation following my discovery of his 'secret life'.

When I left Muktananda's service, I did so because I had just learned
of the threatening action he had taken against some of his long-time
devotees who had recently left his service. He had sent two of his
body-guards to deliver threats to two young married women who had been
speaking to other women who had been speaking to others of
Muktananda's sexual liaisons with a number of young girls in his
ashram. It was immediately clear to me that I could not represent a
guru who was not only taking sexual advantage of his female devotees
but was threatening with bodily harm those who revealed the truth
about him. However, after I had left Muktananda and had make the
reasons for my departure known to others still in his service, another
issue came to light for me, teaching me something not only about
Muktananda's, but about the nature of the organization and all other
such organizations in which the leader is regarded as infallible by
his followers, and is therefore obeyed implicitly.

When Chandra and Michael Dinga and later myself realized the truth
about Muktananda and his secret sex life, there was absolutely no
means available to present the evidence for a fair hearing or
judgment. There was no recourse but to leave, for the guru was the
sole appeal, and he was as accustomed to lying as he was to breathing.
Yet his word was regarded by followers as so absolutely final that
when each of us left and were branded "demons" by him, not a single
soul among those who had been our brother and sister devotees for ten
years questioned or objected, but unamimouly rejected us outright as
the demented infidels he said we were. One has only to observe the way
each of us who discovered the guru's secret life were treated by our
former comrades to understand the power for evil inherent in any
relationship based on the infallibility of the leader and the
unquestioned obedience of the subjects...

It is clear to me that not only had the girls with whom Muktananda
practiced his sexual diversions committed acts to which they had given
no moral or rational consent, but so had the men who were ordered to
threaten them with violence, and so had I myself when I had followed
Muktananda's orders to express to others opinions which I did not
sincerely hold. It is a sad but perennial phenomenon: Out of a love
for truth and for those who teach it and appear to embody it, we
unwittingly set ourselves up for exploitation and betrayal. Our
mistake is to deify another being and attribute perfection to him.
From that point on everything is admissible.

I think the lesson to be learned is that we simply cannot afford to
relinquish our individual sovereignty - whether it be in a socio-
political setting or in a religious congregation. Those who willingly
put aside their own autonomy, their own moral judgment, to obey even a
Christ, a Buddha, or a Krishna, do so at risk of losing a great deal
more than they can hope to gain.

About Muktananda himself I have thought a great deal. There is no
doubt in my mind that he was an extraordinarily enlightened, learned,
and articulate man who possessed a singular power, a dynamic personal
radiance and charisma that drew people to him and inspired them to lay
their lives at his feet. Surely such a power is divine; yet there is
no way to justify the way in which he used this power. If God himself
were to behave in this way, we would have to find him guilty of
flagrant disregard for the law of love.

Some may say, 'He did no worse than any of us have done, or would do
if we could.' And I would answer, 'No; he did worse than any of use
have done or would have done in his place. For, though he was only
human like the rest of us, he staged a deliberate campaign of deceit
to convince gentle souls that he had transcended the limitations of
mankind, that through realizing the eternal Self, he had attained holy
"perfection." He planted and nourished false, impossible dreams in the
hears of innocent, faithful souls and sacrificed them to his sport.
With malicious glee, he cunningly stole from hundreds of trusting
souls their hearts and wills, their self-trust, their very sanity,
their very lives. No ordinary, good person could do this, no matter
how he tried; his heart and conscience would not allow it.

Like all of us, Muktananda was only human. And, like all men who
worship power, he was inevitably corrupted and destroyed by it. His
power could not save him form the weakness of the flesh, nor from the
wickedness and depravity that servitude to it brings. He ended as a
feeble-minded sadistic tyrant, luring devout little girls to his bed
every night with promises of grace and self-realization.

Muktananda's claim of "perfection" (Siddha-hood) was based on the
notion that a person who has become enlightened has thereby also
become "perfect" and absolutely free of human weakness. This is
nonsense; it is a myth perpetrated by dishonest men who wish to
receive the reverence and adoration due God alone. There is no
absolute assurance that enlightenment necessitates the moral virtue of
a person. There is no guarantee against the weakness of anger, lust,
and greed in the human soul. The enlightened are on an equal footing
with the ignorant in the struggle against their own evil - the only
difference being that the enlightened person knows the truth, and has
no excuse for betraying it.

Throughout history there have been many enlightened souls who have
been thought great, who, in the pride of their perfection and freedom,
have imagined themselves to be beyond the constraints of God's laws,
and who have thus fallen from love and lost the glory the once had.
Those glorious Babes and Bhagwans, thinking to build their kingdom
here on earth upon the ruins of the young souls devoted to them, often
succeed for a time in fooling many and in gathering a large and
festive following, but their deeds also follow them and proclaim their
truth long after the paeans of praise have been sung and wafted away
on the air. "God is not mocked"; there is no freedom, no liberation,
from His law of love, nor from His inescapable justice. It is indeed
often those very persons who have thought themselves most perfect,
most free and ungoverned, who have fallen most grievously; and their
piteous fall is an occasion for great sadness, and should serve as a
clear reminder of caution to us all.

www.LeavingSiddhaYoga.net

The Rick A. Ross Institute
email: info@rickross.com URL: http://www.rickross.com

http://www.rickross.com/groups/saibaba.html

...and I am Sid Harth

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TOPIC: GANG WAR ERUPTS IN BHENDI BAZAAR
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e19d9793a12a546d?hl=en
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Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 3:04 am
From: bademiyansubhanallah