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Is quack-devotee Shashi Tharoor fit for top UN job?
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E-mailMade Popular Jun 26 2006
India :
Shashi Tharoor’s candidature for the top UN job is facing opposition from fellow citizens for liaison with the controversial godman Sathya Sai Baba (SSB) and alleged obscurantism.
Members of Rationalist International, an Indian dominated forum for ‘rationalist ideas and positions of world-wide concern’ have asked for the withdrawal Tharoor’s candidature. The reason given behind this is that behind the suave and sophisticated intellectual image Shashi Tharoor sports lies a deviant mind that believes in the paranormal; and a great devotee of SSB, a godman who with sleight of hand and other organ grinder’s tricks managed to fool hundreds of thousands of people into taking him as God Incarnate.
Sanal Edamaruku, President, Rationalist International and President, Indian Rationalist Association has expressed his shock and dismay about India putting forward the name of Shashi Tharoor for the UN General Secretary’s post when Kofi Annan retires this year.
He says;
I am shocked to hear that the Government of India has nominated Shashi Tharoor as its candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General. Shashi Tharoor - despite his carefully nurtured image as a suave and balanced intellectual - is a hardcore propagandist of obscurantism, miracle-belief and all kinds of superstitions, who does not miss a single opportunity to raise his voice in the international media in favour of paranormal claims and in praise of godmen and miracle mongers.To corroborate his claims, Sanal Edamaruku has reproduced what Tharoor has written on his personal website expressing his position on India that reads -
In the 1950s, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru declared dams and factories to be “the new temples of modern India.” What he failed to recognise was that the old temples continued to maintain their hold on the Indian imagination. The software programs of the new information technology companies dotting Bangalore’s “Silicon Plateau” may be the new mantras of India, but they supplement, rather than supplant, the old mantras. .... Saibaba and Infosys are, in fact, emblematic of an India that somehow manages to live in several centuries at once.
Not only this, Edamaruku has published a part of another of Tharoor’s writings about another such quack, this time a female, which reads as follows:
She took to standing in a crucified position, and blood appeared spontaneously on her hands and feet - the stigmata of Christian lore. Like Saint Teresa of Avila centuries earlier, she suffered seizures during which she levitated: neighbors would come to her family home on Fridays to see her suspended high against the wall in a crucified pose.In the end of the article, Edamaruku writes that should Shashi Tharoor become the Secretary General of the UN, it will cause major embarrassment to the country as “he is an articulate and avowed propagator of blind faith and superstition, and ridicules the scientific outlook of India’s policy, enshrined in the Indian Constitution”. Not only this, Tharoor as Secretary General would damage the reputation of the United Nations himself.
Now, this raises a deep and serious question. Should the man who devoted his youth through middle age to the cause of the United Nations and served it with distinction be subject to such harsh criticism? His own beliefs and practices never came in the way of his performance on the job he was entrusted with all his life.
However, on second thoughts, it does compel people like us to take stock of the man’s mind and his irrational beliefs. Those beliefs might not be a factor when dispensing duties, but then, charlatans like Sathya Sai Baba will get major boost with the patronage of such a high-profile figure such as the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The time is to move towards light from darkness, progress from backwardness and not take the world back to the dark ages of superstitions, blind beliefs and irrational practices.
I firmly believe that no matter whatever the credentials and the qualifications Shashi Tharoor might have, with a deviant mind, all the good work done by him might come to a naught in one stroke.
The Indian government must review its position on Tharoor seriously to save future blushes.
Report: Sai Baba EXPOSED
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RSS 
Jayanta
instablogs.com
(Who am I?) Jun 29 2006
New Delhi,
India
Joe,
No story has been duplicated here. Shashi Tharoor’s inclination towards quacks and the paranormal was out in the Hindustan Times on June 26. Before I blogged on this, the news was all over the mainstream media that rationalists are opposing Shashi Tharoor’s candidacy to the Secy. Gen. of the UN’s post.
I searched the blogosphere and found SaiBabaExposed had a good story on this with relevant links to the Rationalist International site where the president of the forum expressed his dismay. That has been properly linked here in the post as well.
UNESCO has shunned a body associated with the Sai Baba movement.
Why? Because of widespread reports of child abuse and molestation that was going on in the name religious practices.
When a body like the UNESCO does such a thing, it must be taken with utmost seriousness.
UNESCO is an UN body, Shashi Tharoor is a candidate for the Secretary General of the UN’s post and Shashi Tharoor is a devotee of the quack called Sathya Sai Baba.
So you can easily assess the kind of effect and repercussions the world body will have in the event a deviant like Tharoor is at the helm of the affairs.
Comment Link
(Local Perspectives)
Joe,
I read about the opposition to Tharoor’s candidacy in mainstream media. It was in the Delhi edition of Hindustan Times on 26th. I tried to search news on it over the net, but couldn’t find it even in the archives section of HT. I therefore, I did a blogsearch and found what I was looking for in SaiBabaExposed. Besides, I got the link to the Rationalist International site from SaiBabaExposed. Since I had to link a source, so it made a lot of sense to link the blog [which is the general practice in the blogosphere].
You are right! I have an anti-SSB agenda indeed. But to limit my anti-quackery agenda to SSB only will be a gross injustice to my cause - which is - to promote rational thinking and dissuade people from being done in by someone who produces cheap watches and fake jewelry out of thin air. I am against all godmen, tricksters and quacks who cheat people in the name of being associated with God. Not only SSB, I am against people like the ’miracle-man’ Benny Hinn etc., who unlike even the great Christian saints can perform a miracle in television, in front of large crowds within a snap of fingers!
If David Blaine and Sathya Sai Baba were to compete with each other in performing, Sathya Sai Baba would have to run to find a hiding place with his tail tucked between his legs.
The difference between Blaine and SSB is that he doesn’t proclaim himself to be god. Talent-wise, there is no comparison between Blaine and SSB. However, SSB exploited religion in a deeply religious country like India and have an army of brainwashed morons in his following.
As far as the UNESCO ban is concered and your reply is typical of a person suffering from ’True Believer Syndrome’. If not so, then other interests like commercial, carnal, political etc., might be a factor. In the SSB camp, all three things are prevalent.
It is such a disgrace that even in the 21st Century, there are some people who still believes such charlatans. A quack by any name is a quack, be it Sathya Sai Baba or Benny Hinn or the exorcists getting people rid of djinns and spirits in Delhi’s walled city.
Anyway, thanks for writing.
I read about the opposition to Tharoor’s candidacy in mainstream media. It was in the Delhi edition of Hindustan Times on 26th. I tried to search news on it over the net, but couldn’t find it even in the archives section of HT. I therefore, I did a blogsearch and found what I was looking for in SaiBabaExposed. Besides, I got the link to the Rationalist International site from SaiBabaExposed. Since I had to link a source, so it made a lot of sense to link the blog [which is the general practice in the blogosphere].
You are right! I have an anti-SSB agenda indeed. But to limit my anti-quackery agenda to SSB only will be a gross injustice to my cause - which is - to promote rational thinking and dissuade people from being done in by someone who produces cheap watches and fake jewelry out of thin air. I am against all godmen, tricksters and quacks who cheat people in the name of being associated with God. Not only SSB, I am against people like the ’miracle-man’ Benny Hinn etc., who unlike even the great Christian saints can perform a miracle in television, in front of large crowds within a snap of fingers!
If David Blaine and Sathya Sai Baba were to compete with each other in performing, Sathya Sai Baba would have to run to find a hiding place with his tail tucked between his legs.
The difference between Blaine and SSB is that he doesn’t proclaim himself to be god. Talent-wise, there is no comparison between Blaine and SSB. However, SSB exploited religion in a deeply religious country like India and have an army of brainwashed morons in his following.
As far as the UNESCO ban is concered and your reply is typical of a person suffering from ’True Believer Syndrome’. If not so, then other interests like commercial, carnal, political etc., might be a factor. In the SSB camp, all three things are prevalent.
It is such a disgrace that even in the 21st Century, there are some people who still believes such charlatans. A quack by any name is a quack, be it Sathya Sai Baba or Benny Hinn or the exorcists getting people rid of djinns and spirits in Delhi’s walled city.
Anyway, thanks for writing.
(Local Perspectives)
Lisa De Witt,
It seems my words got lost on you completely. I am NOT against religion. I am a deeply religious and God-fearing man myself. So please come out of the notion that I am an atheist.
I am against quackery. Hence, I am against people like SSB. However, I am not against the fakirs and the sadhus who roam about all over the world.
My point is - what SSB had been doing in the name of religion and his proclaimed association with God (as if he is a special person, a human being above you and me and closer to God than me) is utterly despicable. With the help of a organ grinder tricks, showbiz and playing on the religious sentiments of people he amassed a huge following. Not only this, serious criminal allegations have been labeled against him including murders.
Let’s keep this thing simple. A ’high spirit’ like SSB doesn’t have to produce watches and jewelry out of thin air to impress devotees. That’s it.
Furthermore, you have all the freedom in the world to follow whatever religion or godman you wish, be it SSB or whoever he/she might me. I am not asking for your persecution. Neither, being followers of people like SSB is illegal. I respect your freedom of religion to the hilt. I just have a problem with people like SSB in the society that I live in. In my opinion, they are highly dangerous in senses more than one.
As far as Tharoor’s UN Secy. Gen. candidacy is concerned, well, I am not against him because of his religious beliefs, but because of his inclination towards the irrational, the paranormal.
I hope it clears your doubts about my stand here.
It seems my words got lost on you completely. I am NOT against religion. I am a deeply religious and God-fearing man myself. So please come out of the notion that I am an atheist.
I am against quackery. Hence, I am against people like SSB. However, I am not against the fakirs and the sadhus who roam about all over the world.
My point is - what SSB had been doing in the name of religion and his proclaimed association with God (as if he is a special person, a human being above you and me and closer to God than me) is utterly despicable. With the help of a organ grinder tricks, showbiz and playing on the religious sentiments of people he amassed a huge following. Not only this, serious criminal allegations have been labeled against him including murders.
Let’s keep this thing simple. A ’high spirit’ like SSB doesn’t have to produce watches and jewelry out of thin air to impress devotees. That’s it.
Furthermore, you have all the freedom in the world to follow whatever religion or godman you wish, be it SSB or whoever he/she might me. I am not asking for your persecution. Neither, being followers of people like SSB is illegal. I respect your freedom of religion to the hilt. I just have a problem with people like SSB in the society that I live in. In my opinion, they are highly dangerous in senses more than one.
As far as Tharoor’s UN Secy. Gen. candidacy is concerned, well, I am not against him because of his religious beliefs, but because of his inclination towards the irrational, the paranormal.
I hope it clears your doubts about my stand here.
(Local Perspectives)
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