Not long ago, self-styled godman Asaram, convicted in a rape and sexual assault case on Wednesday, was a powerful preacher with 20 million followers, running 425 ashrams and 50 gurukuls in a dozen countries and presiding over a ₹5,000 crore business empire.
Born in what is now Pakistan’s Sindh province in 1941, his family moved to Gujarat after Partition and settled in Ahmedabad’s middle and lower middle class Maninagar area.
Sometime in the 1960s, Asumal Harpalani became Asaram and set up a small ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati in the Motera area of Ahmedabad.
The spotless white dhoti and kurta, and a snow-white beard to match, made him look the part and that combined with a growing list of quotable quotes including life tips — on everything from marital bliss to cures for cancer — and ashrams selling all sorts of consumer products like soaps, shampoos and ayurvedic medicines, helped him sustain the air of godliness and win more and more followers every day as his stature grew.
Massive following
In Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where most of his ashrams and gurukuls were set up, he created a massive following, mainly among tribals, the Backward Communities and Sindhis.
However, for 79-year-old Asaram, who transitioned from Asumal Harpalani to Asaram, allegations of criminality and controversies were nothing new as he reportedly started as a liquor bootlegger in “dry” Gujarat.
Though he preached that “morality cannot survive in the absence of spirituality and materialism inevitably brings sorrow and misery”, he developed a taste for the good and lavish life.
Soon, as the number of ashrams rose and the follower base grew, so did his desires for material life.
He got a fleet of luxurious cars but preferred to travel by Mercedes or BMW, hired choppers to fly from one ashram to another and enjoyed VVIP status at airports, avoided getting frisked and used to be taken to aircraft in special convoys often escorted by police.
