The Fake Fakirs and The Rationalists

Being a rationalist is both a lonely and dangerous role in any land of myth and legend, and where more so than India, where religion rules the lives of at least 95% of the population .... 

Indian Rationalists Face Attack Or Murder ...

For instance a number of rationalists have been assassinated in recent years .....  

• Narendra Achyut Dabholkar was an Indian rationalist and author. Murdered by Hindu nationalists on  20 August 2013 after being accused of being anti-religion.
• Govind Pansare was a socialist politician and author. He and his wife were attacked on the 16th of  February 2015, by gun-wielding assailants and he died from his wounds on 20 February. His biography of 17th century Maratha warrior King Shivaji Kon Hota, had upset nationalists by showing him to not be anti-muslim or very religious.
• Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi was an Indian scholar of Vachana literature and academic who served as the vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. He was attacked by right-wing Hindutva groups over the years. However in June 2014, addressing a seminar on an 'Anti-superstition Bill' in Bangalore and quoted from an author the nationalists disliked, and this led to protests from the right-wing groups and his eventual murder on the 20th of August 2015.

So Sanal Edamaruku took on a brave and unusual role, when he became President of the Indian Rationalist Association. Now we as we have seen before, that being a non-believer is just about as dangerous, as insulting a religion in these fevered lands of the believers.  

Therefore you may not be surprised to hear that Mr Edamaruku now lives in self imposed exile in Finland (maybe not an odd choice, seeing as the UK has virtually no restrictions on the most fervent and dangerous believers of fairy tale from that continent), still that's where he went. So why in particular is he on the run .... well oddly it was the Indian Christians and not the Hindus who were offended.

He had already exposed as a faker, a fakir on a TV programme who had said he could kill anyone via Tantric chants. They were both in a TV station at the time and Mr Edamaruku challenged the fakir to kill him. The TV channel immediately cancelled all subsequent programming, in anticipation of great TV, and the fakir began chanting on the spot. But as the hours passed ..... needless to say, huff and puff though he might he could not blow Mr Edamaruku down .... he remained totally unharmed by the chanting, and the fakir wavered and then gave up.  

This might have been the end of it, just another fake fakir exposed. One of many that the rationalists have exposed as mere sleight of hand tricksters when they materialised 'watches' or 'holy' ash. But in 2012, four years after his televised encounter with the fakir, a miracle was declared amongst local Catholic Christians, where a statue of Christ was apparently dripping holy water ....  Mr Edamaruku made the fateful decision to investigate.

Mr Edamaruku - Indian Rationalist In Exile.

 

Mr Edamaruku used a sanitary engineer to expose the fact that it was bad plumbing from a toilet on the other side of the wall, dripping down a wall and down the statue. However, the local Catholic groups raised 'hate speech' complaints at three police stations in Mumbai, who then took up the blasphemy cases filed against him, under the notorious Section 295a of India's colonial-era penal code. Under this act, "deliberate and malicious" speech insulting to religion is punishable with up to three years in prison and a fine.

Other cases like this have resulted in differing results, depending upon how 'religious' the government was: 

• 1957: Ramji Lal Modi published a cartoon and article deemed offensive to Muslims - he was fined and imprisoned for 12 months.
• 1996: Artist MF Husain faced a prolonged legal campaign over his images of Hindu figures - higher courts dismissed most cases but as more were registered he took Qatari citizenship.
• 2008: I.T. worker Lakshmana Kailash spent 50 days in jail after being arrested on suspicion of posting offensive images online - police had mistakenly identified him and he was released.
• 2013: Writer Yogesh Master was arrested over his book about the Hindu god Ganesh, and got bail a day later.

But although, most cases do get dismissed, the mere threat of arrest and charges, prompted threats, on-line and by phone, from a variety of groups (not all Christians), and with imminent arrest and a spell in an Indian prison facing him, he decided to leave India for Finland .... just for a week or so, until the fuss died down. But years later he is now trapped there, as the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), one of the original complaining  groups still insists it will press for prosecution should he ever return. 

A then friend and anti-black-magic campaigner, Narendra Dabholkar, had offered to protect him if he went back to India, but four days later he had been murdered, a crime which many believe was linked to his campaign against magic .... So there the matter lies.

You would think that the Catholic Church would be rather embarrassed by this activity, but apparently not, although it has to be said that Mr Edamaruku has refused to make even the mildest of apologies for hurt feelings, to end the impasse, but then he is in the right, so needs make none at all.

"I would do it again. Because any miracle which has enormous clout at one moment, is simply gone once explained. It's like a bubble. You prick it and it is finished."

The statue still stands in that sleepy suburb of Mumbai, but it no longer drips .... they fixed the plumbing next door, which sums up the whole story.