Hyderabad, Jan 22
Protesting the remarks of spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba here Monday
opposing a separate Telangana state, people went on a rampage at a
Sai Baba temple while his followers 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 the huge cut outs of Sai Baba
and set them afire after trampling on them.
An effigy of Sai Baba, who termed attempts to bifurcate the state 'mahapapam'
(great sin), was also burnt.
Addressing a function in Chennai 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 claims to be reincarnation of Hindu God and preaches
love, understanding and universal brotherhood, has thousands of
followers in India and abroad including several heads of state,
eminent politicians, military officials, judges, film stars and
sportsmen.
During last few decades, he has built a vast empire worth billions
of rupees transforming a 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 separate
statehood 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 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 down
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.
Sai Baba, who celebrated his 81st birthday recently, had declared at
the age of 15 that he was no ordinary human being, but had come to
the earth to fulfil the wishes of the saints and sages.
Sai Baba also used to perform miracles like producing gold out of
thin air but about a decade ago he stopped doing them in the wake of
a controversy and a challenge by rationalists to prove his miracles
in their presence.
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