Dhirendra Shastri’s “Sanatan Hindu Ekta Padyatra,” which began from Delhi on November 7 and ended in Vrindavan on November 16, carried the usual packaging of unity, devotion, purity, and cultural reaffirmation. It demanded a clean Yamuna river and a minor phenomenon called “Hindu Rashtra,” nothing too significant.
The yatra was presented as a gentle march, soft-footed and non-political – a procession meant to lift the moral air of the land. But one only had to listen to Shastri (Baba Bageshwar) for a few minutes to realise that it was nothing but a façade. For a man insisting that nothing about this yatra touched politics, he had an oddly consistent habit of demanding a Hindu Rashtra, mentioning “liberation” of Krishna Janmabhoomi – in short, of planting political narratives into the language of faith. Calling this march apolitical was just a theatrical patina.
The irony deepens when you look at the air itself. Delhi and NCR were choking under a toxic smog so thick it stung the lungs. Public health advisories have warned people about the poisonous air, and the number of people with breathing problems has increased exponentially. And in the midst of this hazardous haze, Shastri led a cross-state march on a national highway – thousands walking through what the government itself classified as ‘severe’ air.
The National Highway-19 had to be diverted, frustrating commuters who had to take alternate routes. The inconvenience was not a side effect but an inevitability of turning a public highway into a devotional runway. There is no way to discover if faith demanded all this, but it is painstakingly obvious what ambition demanded.
Shastri’s rise has always rested somewhere between performance and persuasion. His televised “miracles,” his dramatic public sessions, and his crafted image of clairvoyance have been so effective that the NBDSA once ordered News18 to take down its interview with him for promoting superstition. That was the rare moment when an institution said no. This yatra illustrated how often others say yes.
Initially, this article was meant to study a handful of the people visiting him – the public figures who orbit him, the patterns they reveal. But the list grew absurdly, turning from a set of names into a size that could easily match that of an urban township. Singers, poets, religious figures, politicians, celebrities, minor royalty, ideological foot-soldiers – all of them gathering like spectators around a bonfire. At least the devotional professionals like singers, poets, or religious figures had predictable motives. They are happy to attend any event that promises a mic and a crowd. But the rest? Their presence requires some explanation.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here.