China Courts Dalai Lama. Olympic Good Spirit?

The Chinese government has been making strenuous attempts to ensure a meeting with the Dalai Lama. The troubled events attending the Olympic torch relay, and international condemnation of China for her human rights record, have brought considerable pressure on the Chinese leaders to make this move. This is in marked contrast to its decades of execrating the Tibetan Buddhist leader in exile.

 

 

 

The pint-sized - although reprehensible - thuggery of violent protesters only served further to obscure the Chinese government’s monumental thuggery practised for so long. It also demonstrated one of the Dalai Lama’s difficulties - how to restrain those of his own culture who think violence is the answer. Their lack of restraint lost a priceless opportunity to gain far greater world sympathy for their cause. 

It is a great pity that the violent actions of some protesters have detracted from one of the singular facts in the world’s recent history:  the Dalai Lama, in the extremely small company of those such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, has been a great voice for peace. The Chinese government responded in the way that it so often has done with other individuals who speak out boldly on behalf of the facts. It attempted to denigrate the Dalai Lama by calling him a liar. It is a ploy extremely often and long used by totalitarian governments and by democratic leaders when there is a good chance of getting away with it.  

Rudd’s Diplomacy. Or:  Is There Anything So Dainty As An Old China Hand

My own country’s Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, for all that he spoke frankly to China of human rights concerns about her shockingly violent suppressions in Tibet, will have sore need, when dealing with many other countries, of more than his adroit diplomacy in his recent visit to China. Let us trust that he does not soon become jaded, if he is not already.

  

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd review honour guard, Beijing.

 

That Mr Rudd and the Chinese leaders almost wildly succeeded in their trade aims indicates that his outspokenness on human rights was never going to threaten the trade realpolitic at all. All his fine sentiments about China, splashily but cannily delivered in Mandarin, were always bound to have been reported in the Chinese media, just as his remarks about human rights in Tibet were forever doomed to be highly censored. An old China hand would have known this even in his sleep.

 

India Could Show Way (if she cleans her own backyard).

 

 

As India shakes herself loose of antidemocratic forces within her midst, posed by those powerful oligarchies such as Sathya Sai Baba’s cult, one can hope that a great counterweight to Communist China’s influence will swing into place. Ensuring India a place in the UN Security Council is one of the ways in which the international community can resist the impact that China

hopes, in part, to achieve by holding a successful Olympic Games. Prime MinistChina, may find it harder to play games with countries in Asia and elsewhere that have much to fear from a Communist China rampant.  

 Photos:  1. Sathya Sai Baba with former Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. 2. Sathya Sai Baba in pure gold chariot

Resources

 

Envoys for China, Dalai Lama to meet Sunday

CNN. May 3, 2008.  With the outbreak in violence and the resulting crackdown, Beijing has been under intense international pressure to re-open its dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

 

When the talks were announced last week, China said it would resume meetings with representatives of the Dalai Lama in hopes the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would use his influence to stop anti-Chinese protests that threaten to disrupt the Olympics, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. 

The international torch relay ahead of the Olympics in Beijing was dogged along the way by protesters supporting the Free Tibet Movement. The remainder of the relay will take place within China and its territories and was in Macau on Saturday.

 

Some Articles at Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba

Dalai Lama: Forgiveness does not mean forgetfulness

The Guru Trap. Will India Be Forever Trapped?

Indian Minister Shields Sai Baba on BBC television

India A Mature Democracy? BBC Probes

Probed On Male Sex Abuse, Sai Baba Evicts BBC TV Team

Dissent From Guru Cults Draws Slander and Harassment

Indian Gurus Stifle India’s Chance To Excel

Cultic Depersonalization or Demonization of Dissenters

 

 

V.P.B. Nair. B.Premanand. R.Priddy: Sai Baba Bedroom Killings

The more media, institutional, academic and other third party investigators become aware of the sheer extent of the evidence of criminal cover up by successive Indian governments over the years of the Puttaparthi police killings in Sathya Sai Baba’s bedroom - the better.

Libel and Slander Replace Due and Proper Third Party Investigation

Researchers will see that what has regretably too often fallen to the lot of former devotees, and also other critics of Sai Baba (most notably B.Premanand), should have been investigated according to well-laid canons of independent, fully accountable probes by government, parliament, police, judicary, media and so on.

Instead, there has been, from Sathya Sai Baba ‘down’, the attempt to  ridicule, demean, and slander those many former Sai devotees from countries right round the world who have attempted to raise questions properly to be asked - when serious and sustained allegations are made - of any organization.

The way in which both certain top leaders and various rank-and-file members of the Sathya Sai Organization have covertly reacted in supporting attacks on former devotees on the Internet and elsewhere is light years away from the spirituality they preach. Those who have been so profoundly and viciously slandered and libeled gave decades of deep devotion and service, only to be, virtually from the moment they began to raise questions demonized.

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

This culpability of foremost Sathya Sai Officials, and also rank-and-file members of the Sathya Sai Organization, for covertly supporting scurrilous attacks against former devotees and other Sai Baba critics on the Internet and beyond is now being documented, as for example:

The International Sathya Sai Organization - an accessory to a massive libel and disinformation campaign. Open letter to the Prasanthi Council - c/o Dr. M. Goldstein, Dr. G. Venkataraman and its other members. Here is a quote from that document:

Two semi-official pro-Sai web sites - saibabaofindia.com/ and saibabalinks.org/ - which could not operate without the help of central officials of the Sathya Sai Organization, Radio Sai Global Harmony and Sai ashrams, have links to websites which libel all former members who have spoken out. Such links reveal the obvious inability of Sai representatives in these groups to reply honestly and cogently to any of the many published allegations about Sai Baba made by those who were long respected members, in some cases prominent leaders, of his international organization. Furthermore, some members link to extremist web sites which have as their primary agenda contrived attempts at character assassination of ex-followers who present critical views. The most prominent of such sites are examined here and here.

See a list (by no means exhaustive) of typical depradations of those Sathya Sai Baba forces (and those caught up in other cults) who claim to be involved in spirituality: Dissent From Guru Cults Draws Slander and Harassment. See also, Cultic Depersonalization or Demonization of Dissenters

The one-hour BBC dcumentary, The Secret Swami (2004) on Sathya Sai Baba, is compelling, and was the work of more than seven intensive months. Its scope was, however, narrow indeed in comparison to a vast database that discloses that much else ails Puttaparthi Sai Baba and his forces such as the Prashanti Council and the International Sathya Sai Organization.

The Indian Government and Police Cover Up of Killings in Sai Baba’s Bedroom

Even so, The Secret Swami reveals much, including information about gruesome Puttaparthi police killings in Sai Baba’s bedroom on June 6, 1993.

Many Indian journalists and editors and others know of the profound extent of the cover up by the then powerful Home Minister S.B. Chavan, and central, Andhra Pradesh State and local governments. It is a pity that very few have had the courage to speak out publicly on the issue, as has former Andhra Pradesh Home Secretary V.P.B. Nair, who was in office at the time of the killings. It is a sad commentary that very few had the courage in speaking out displayed by those such as Nair and B. Premanand. See the BBC Film Clip of V.P.B. Nair making his statement

Sathya Sai Baba and Chief Officals Caught in Covering Up

The BBC shot more than 80 hours of footage. It saw the impressive line-up of former devotee witnesses from various countries and, correspondingly, the sheer degree of cover up by Sai Baba’s officials. Consequently, the producers, Eamon Hardy and David Savill, obtained from the top Executives of the BBC permission to use the terribly sparingly-used resort of a hidden camera. They were able to get such a noble and spiritual glimpse of the Sai Baba’s world head Goldstein as THIS! Or, should you prefer to see a beatific piece of moving BBC footage of Sai Baba’s main man (or heavenly messenger?!), see THIS!

Officials included  Sathya Sai Central Trust Secretary, K. Chakravarthy, and Sathya Sai Organization World Chairman, Dr Michael Goldstein of Covena, California, USA. As have other major media organizations, the BBC withstood attempts to silence it by extremely high-ranking officials of Sai Baba’s outfit. Canada’s national broadcaster CBC was waylaid by hundreds of phone calls and emails by Sathya Sai Baba devotees, both before and after the screenings of the documentary in Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program host said on air:

“We stand by the professionalism of our BBC colleagues”.

See my review (not in some respects favourable) of The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ - A Revision. NOTE: At the foot of this article, there are links to video footage that you can access both on broadband and dialup. See also my articles:

Probed On Male Sex Abuse, Sai Baba Evicts BBC TV Team

Indian Minister Shields Sai Baba on BBC television

BBC Caught UNESCO Head Bowing To Indian Government

Serial Sex Molestation and Bedroom Killings. But Much More

Serial Sex Molestation and Bedroom Killings. But Much More

Guru Sex Abuse Testimony To BBC - After Years of Silence

India A Mature Democracy? BBC Probes

The Genesis of the BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sai Baba)

Criticism of Sai Baba No Reflection On Hinduism

Some Key Cultic Responses To Critics

Serial Sex Molestation and Bedroom Killings. But Much More

Exposure of Sathya Sai Baba. Media Source List 

Gurubusting Sathya Sai Baba

 

Some Further Resources

“Murders in Sai Baba’s Bedroom” by B. Premanand. Price India Rs. 400/-, Overseas US $40/- (free postage). Publ. by B. Premanand. 11/7 Chettipalayam Road, Podnadur. 641 023 Tamil Nadu, India

B. Premanand Online Articles

see Wikipedia ‘Basava Premanand’
Massive sabotage try by Sai. Org person foiled !!!!!
Summary: Key Points on the Sai Baba Murders
Indian official tries to conceal facts
Sexual Abuse, healing, or oil anointing?
Sexual abuse, Gerald Moreno etc. part two !
On Alaya Rahm’s testimonies against Sai Baba
Murders issue - a defamatory critic rebutted.
Further rebuttals about the murders
Conclusive rebuttal about the murders - plus
Conclusive final rebuttal on the murders
Concerning my reputation & writings (1 2 3 4 5 )
Further refutation of Moreno’s obfuscations
Unfounded allegations & an anon. letter
Part Four on the ‘Betrayal’ letter
Baseless allegations about a letter refuted
BBC’s ‘This World’ article on Basava Premanand

Articles by Robert Priddy

See Wikipedia article under ‘Robert Priddy’. He was founder member of Sathya Sai Organization, Norway. Office-bearer Oslo Sai Centre 1983. Chairman from 1987 while acting national contact-person of the Sathya Sai Organisation, Norway 1987-2000.  Retired academic, Philosophy and Social Science, University of Oslo. Robert Priddy was for many years a close and trusted friend of (Late) V.K. Narasimhan, one of India’s great newspaper editors, and editor, following  Professor N. Kasturi, of Sai Baba’s official magazine Sanathana Sarathi.

Sathya Sai Says: “Why fear when I am here?”. On the Events of June 6, 1993 - Murders in Sai Baba’s Private Quarters

More Concerning The 1993 Murders In Prashanthi Mandir

Excerpts from newspaper reports with information concerning the murders in Sai Baba’s vicinity at Prashanthi Nilayam of 6-6-1993

The Unresolved, Covered-up 1993 Murders in Sathya Sai Baba’s Bedroom Revisited

Sathya Sai Baba Bedroom Murders

A convenient coverage of many of the issues is at Robert Priddy’s blogsite: http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com. See,  Sathya Sai Baba Bedroom Murders

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. 

Part 4. Part 5.

 

 

Sathya Sai Baba Cult. Blind Eye To Massive Slander

Ten former Sathya Sai Baba followers have signed a joint public statement.To shield peers in many countries from slanderous attacks by Sai Baba followers and their Internet proxies, these individuals are prepared to face the considerable and extremely distorted pro Sai Baba propaganda. We welcome investigations by bona fide investigators, such as government, police, judiciary, major respected world media … Also, for example, institutions which are entertaining doubts about attempts by Sai Baba’s global cult, the Sathya Sai Organization, to enter into mainstream joint endeavours, etc…

In regard to various types of attacks by pro Sai Baba activists on former devotees and other critics of Sai Baba, careful record is being preserved and can be made available to law firms, Interpol, Internet services, the media, and so on.

To find the full document of this public statement released today, see details below. It is entitled: 

‘The International Sathya Sai Organization - an accessory to a massive libel and disinformation campaign. Open letter to the Prasanthi Council - c/o Dr. M. Goldstein, Dr. G. Venkataraman and its other members’ Quotes from this document:

• “Many official and other closely associated prominent supporters of the Sathya Sai Organization have allowed - particularly since considerable exit from the organization commenced from circa 2000 – deplorable libel and misrepresentation of former devotees in many countries, including stalking of former devotees both on and off the Internet” 

• “… two semi-official pro-Sai web sites - saibabaofindia.com/ and saibabalinks.org/ - which could not operate without the help of central officials of the Sathya Sai Organization, Radio Sai Global Harmony and Sai ashrams, have links to websites which libel all former members who have spoken out”

• “… some members link to extremist web sites which have as their primary agenda contrived attempts at character assassination of ex-followers who present critical views” 

• “The Sathya Sai Organization and the Prasanthi Council have both failed to distance themselves from the massive and sustained sabotage attempt through a huge fabric of fraudulence in over 100 emails by Murali Krishna Yachendra. This former Sai student, and quite popular Sai College teacher and very close associate of ashram and Organization officials, is a cousin of a Raja of Venkatagiri (one of Sai Baba’s earliest devotees)”

• “When Yachendra made a comment that Sai Baba’s birthday would be his (Sai Baba’s) “death day”, Barry Pittard immediately contacted the head of Interpol at the Australian Federal Police. He also sent an alert note to the executive of the Australian Sathya Sai Organization, via its website, without courtesy of a reply”

• “Your rank-and-file members have every right to hear from you the truth, and not to endure both concealment and false depictions from you as to why law-abiding, honest and community-serving former members have, over many years, raised various types of serious allegation against Sai Baba and certain of his core leaders”

• “The testimonies and criticism are so substantial and wide-ranging - and so well-documented - that it is impossible to make any reasonable defence against them. This was well demonstrated by the insubstantial, issue-dodging and often directly untruthful writings by Dr. G. Venkataraman of the Prasanthi Council, Deputy World Chairman of the International Sathya Sai Organization, and head of Sai Global Harmony via WorldSpace digital satellite radio. He cast many serious slurs on the integrity of former devotees, after they dissented”  

Resources

• To access the full document, first go to http://www.exbaba.com/ then click on the NEWS tab, and go the entry for March 2008 Monday 17

• Letter sent to the Prashanthi Council two years ago. In common with other communications sent to the Sathya Sai Oranization heads since circa 2000 -  even though by many who had, before they left it on matters of ethical principle, long and good standing in the Organization - the leaders ignored this joint communication. This was but one of countless instances (also experienced by major media like the India Today, BBC, Times of London, Telegraph, Guardian and media in Europe, Canada, Latin America and Australia) that have demonstrated the profound unaccountability and lack of transparency by Sai Baba’s cult, the International Sathya Sai Organization.

• Dissent From Guru Cults Draws Slander and Harassment

The Guru Trap. Will India Be Forever Trapped?

Tehelka is regarded by many observers as one of few newspapers in India which can show some investigate clout and courage. It has sustained tremendous pressure by Indian governments and other power brokerage forces in India. Below is an excerpt from Tehelka, which points the need for India to come clean and act decisively about her frequent cultivation and protection of nefarious gurus. Sathya Sai Baba gets a reference.

Some Related articles at http://barrypittard.wordpress.com

Indian Gurus Stifle India’s Chance To Excel 

Why Might There Be Religious and Political Disconnects?

P.N. Bhagwati, India’s Ex-Chief Justice: Wild, Reckless Claims

Renowned Indian Editor VKN. Diary and Letter Scans Reveal

NOTE: The Tehelka article reference to UNESCO involvement, in which it, along with the University of Flinders, Australia, backed out of a major Sai Baba led international education conference, is available HERE, and related is my article: BBC Caught UNESCO Head Bowing To Indian Government

For the full story clink on the Tehelka story title:

THE HUB
 
Holy ghost! Unholy fathers
Three godmen in one month, charged for raping, killing. Gullible victims, a society steeped in spirituality. The gory trail.

By Chinmayee Manjunath

 In the past month, two godmen have been charged of sexual molestation. Swami Premananda in Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu has been accorded life imprisonment and Swami Gnyanachaitanya in Kottakal, Kerala was arrested and is now on bail. These are just additions to a list of famous names, accused of similar charges. Chandraswami. Sathya Sai Baba. Yet, in a society steeped in the spiritual, no amount of sordid cases seems to taint the lure of ochre ….

“There is no spirit of critical inquiry in our society,” says Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalists Association in New Delhi. “People want to surrender their problems to godmen and believe them to be supernatural. They don’t question them. There is an element of fear also.” Dr Mathew Chandrankunnel, Centre for Study of World Religions, Bangalore adds, “It’s the fatalistic attitude. People might be disturbed by what these swamis do but accept it as part of their fate” …..

The Sathya Sai Baba, despite sordid allegations of sexual abuse and a boycott by unesco, continues to have the powerful falling at his feet.

“When people need solace, they believe anything associated with spirituality,” says Edamaruku. This is, perhaps, linked with the mirage of instant gratification. Rising trp ratings of religious shows on TV are indicative of this. Praying to an unseen, silent god pales when compared to talking to a swami who can do something immediately.

Australia Says ‘Sorry’. A Lesson For Sai Baba And Followers

A great day occurred in Australia yesterday, which the global Sathya Sai Organization may do well to note.

There is a strong lesson about admitting mistakes of the past, and responding with heart to the sorrow that one’s actions or one’s group’s actions have caused.

The rest of the Australian nation via its Federal Parliament said a vastly overdue “Sorry” to the first Australians, her indigenous people, for the tragic way in which their families were uprooted down many generations.

The proviso is, of course, that the noble sentiments and concurrence by most in the Federal Parliament and Australia at large are followed up by the appropriate practical actions that lead to true reconciliation between the first Australians and the rest of the nation.

A Genuine ‘Sorry’ Begets A Genuine ‘Thank You’, and Preludes Healing

The ‘Thank You’ message emblazoned on the tee-shirts of some the thousands of indigenous people who came to the national capital Canberra for the profoundly moving ceremonies should not escape notice. When we say sorry, and mean it, there springs a connection of the heart between people who have been at odds with each other. It is the prelude to a healing. It is the first breakage in the walls of sorrowful division.

The standing ovations for the recently elected Prime Minster Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, were accompanied by thunderous applause. There were deep and unconstrained flows of weeping.  For some, it was as members of an afflicted race of a proud and ancient people so long traduced.

Other tears came from those of many other Australian communities who are capable of seeing the all-important connection - but too often missed when a heart connected imagination fails - between benefits long received, and still daily received, that profoundly stem from the defeat of our original inhabitants, leaving many of them, to this day, in appaling conditions that no nation can with any honor sustain.

The Sathya Sai Organization Needs to Learn to ‘Say Sorry’

The Bernie Taupin words to the Elton John song go to the heart of the matter - “sorry seems to be the hardest word”. Those who have tried to “talk it over” with Sai Baba’s key leaders have been everywhere greeted by authoritarian obfuscation and the most shocking psychological states of denial, something of which, caught by hidden camera, was seen by millions who viewed BBC’s The Secret Swami (2004).

 Sai Baba world head, Dr Michael Goldstein of Covina California USA, manifesting sublime love

The Taupin lyrics do great justice to the situation:

Its sad, so sad
Its a sad, sad situation
And its getting more and more absurd
Its sad, so sad
Why cant we talk it over
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word

A History Denied Maintains The Wounds Into The Future

The leaders and many in the Sathya Sai Organization know very well that many decent, highly regarded individuals and families around the world have left it because of the seriousness of the allegations, which are far from confined to the serial sexual molestation of boys and young men, but contain many other issues of great substance.

What the core leaders know, above all, is that there have been genuine attempts by former followers to raise their concerns in a responsible way. They know that those in dissent are not - as with great untruthfulness they have told their rank-and-file members - a ‘mere handful of disgruntled followers’. As the head of one of Australia’s leading private schools, Christ Church Grammar School Perth, Garth Wynne, informs me that he told the 2004 Sai National Conference (I rely on my carefully taken notes):  When serious allegations keep coming over years, they need to be dealt with properly. Unlike other major institutions in Australia and elsewhere who have broken off afflialiation with the Sathya Sai Organization, the school did not cancel the Sai Baba national conference booked at its prestigious venue. However, the message to the conference of Garth Wynne, the Principal (who acted in handling the Sai Baba matter on behalf of the then Anglican Archbishop of Australia, Dr Peter Carnley) was this - as he himself told me:  The accusations against your founder have kept on coming year after year. It puts an institution like ours, as well as your own organization, in a difficult position if you do not follow the appropriate procedures of investigation and accountability

Further Reading

For full text of Mr Kevin Rudd’s ’sorry speech’,  National Nine News, Wednesday February 13, 2008.

Quote from recently elected Australian Prime Minister Mr Kevin Rudd:

“We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country”.

Video Footage of Prime Minister Rudd’s speech

Barry Pittard article, Truth Commission Model May Assist Sai Baba Devotees

Sai Baba’s Airport Up For Sale, Reports Business Standard

Stop Press. It is reported that Sai Baba’s airport, which has long had capacity for international flights, is up for sale.

Especially when devotees see scenes such as a jumbo jet landing at the Sathya Sai Baba airport from Hong Kong, heavily laden with a panoply of sets and costumes to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Puttaparthi, they cannot but smile. The Kingdom of Sai is surely at hand! See, my article - Will World Accept Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon

Knowingly, they observe - Ah, Swami has promised to physically go abroad very soon. All these devotees coming from around the world, alighting at Puttaparthi by plane, and what with a railhead now all the way up to Puttaparthi, praise be - it cannot be long before the whole world accepts him as Lord of all!

Is Sai Baba Flying or Well Grounded

But rather, our reports are of greatly declining numbers visiting Sai Baba from abroad.

In the face of 7 years of the most intense exposure for former devotee forces both on and off the Internet, is the Sathya Sai Organization having a grave liquidity problem?

If it is, perhaps, big donors like minerals magnate James Sinclair, Isaac Tigrett, former creator-owner of the Hard Rock Cafe and the House of Blues, the Rai family in India, etc., who may have to come extra good for the sheer capital just to keep hugely costly Sathya Sai programs, building and plant going. But then, are these individuals free of their own liquidity problems?

When Exposed, Recruit - and Fast

Although it has long been ordered by Sai Baba not to promote, we saw his cult more recently hiring very costly venues - places where the rich are bound to feel comfortable, and perhaps generous.  Places such as the Sydney Superdome (built for the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia), historic town halls in major cities, Cooper’s Union (where Abraham Lincoln once gave a talk), New York; La Mirada Theatre; Los Angeles County, Hilton Ballroom; Sheraton Hotel & Towers, both Chicago; Copley International Conference Center, San Diego; etc. See article by Robert Priddy and Barry Pittard: Sai Organization’s Spending Spree In Super Dome, Sydney.

And See, news report just released. 

Sai Baba`s airport up for sale

S Kalyana Ramanathan / Chennai October 31, 2007  

Trust puts floor price at Rs 600 crore 
 
The airport’s owner, the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, which manages the religious and philanthropic assets and work of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, has invited bids for it and put the floor price at Rs 600 crore. 
 
One big attraction of this airport is that it is only 70 km from Bangalore International Airport, coming up in Devanahalli. The vantage location will allow airlines to feed the southern sector, which currently has 30 major and minor airports. 
 
The other is that, to sweeten the deal, the Trust is throwing in 2,000 acres of adjoining land. 
 
The additional land could be used either for real estate development or for setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. 
 
The airport is spread over 450 acres. Its runway is 2,230 metres long and currently being used mostly by chartered aircraft. Of late, Kingfisher and Indian have been using this airport as a stopover for their Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam services. 
 
The buzz in the industry is that G R Gopinath, who pioneered low-cost flying in India with Air Deccan, has tied up with a Mumbai-based public figure to put in a bid. Gopinath, however, has denied reports. 
 
Besides, the buzz was not clear whether Gopinath, were he to bid, would do so through Deccan or on his own. 
 
It is being said that Dubai-based real estate developer Limitless LLC could also be in the fray. Limitless is an integrated real estate development company and a business unit of Dubai World, one of Dubai’s leading business groups. 

Further Reading

Sathya Sai Baba Exposure, Media Source List

Exposure of Sathya Sai Baba. Media Source List

Media resources source list relating to the exposé of Sathya Sai Baba and his cult. Compiled by Barry Pittard: bpittard (at) optusnet.com.au

Note: Please kindly report any errors,  updates, or suggest improvements. This overview - not exhaustive -  was mainly compiled well before the BBC’s The Secret Swami, June 2004, and amid many far more pressing duties. I think I have sorted out Urls still alive and scrapped defunct ones. Some newspaper Urls are now not extant, or are retrievable by paid subscription, so in various cases I have relied on copies posted of these articles, usually close to the time when they were published in the media. Usually the postings were to former Sai Baba devotee websites - http://www.exbaba.com or http://saiguru.net . However, institutions, journalists, academic researchers and others in need of originals should be able to obtain those via standard resources, such as hard copy within the media establishments themselves.  Barry Pittard.

               ……………………….

The Week, June 20, 1993. High intrigue. Deadly power struggle in Puttaparthi

Indian Skeptic, 6(4), August 1993, Santa Claus in India. Piet Vroon, Santa Claus in India, from Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant, Saturday December 5, 1992, translated J.W. Nienhuys 

Sunday Magazine, December, 10-16, 1996. Brushed Under The Carpet. From five-page Feature: G.S. Radhakrishna, Sandhya Mendonca

Nexus Magazine, August-September 1999. Volume 7, Number 5. Sai Baba Exposed - Fraud, Fakery, & Molestation. Terry Gallagher, Hans de Kraker, Jens and Gurprit Sethi. Compiled from the website: www.myfreeoffice.com/saibabaexposed/ (no longer available)

Bild (Tr., German daily). August 21, 2000. Resident from Munich Ran Away From India - Guru all of a sudden wants sex. Wolfgang Ranft

Trouw (Dutch daily ), September 6th, 2000. The Downfall of A Guru Sai Baba, Koert van de Velde, tr., Ella Evers

Spiegelbeeld, (Tr., Dutch national Magazine) October, 2000. The truth will prevail. Matthijs van der Meer:

Noordhollands Dagblad (Tr., Dutch daily), Saturday December 9, 2000. Devotee becomes anti Sai Baba activist. Arthur de Mijttenaere

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday 19, November 2000 - 7.30 am.  Interview by Stephen Perry with:  David Bailey (UK), former closest Western devotee; Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph journalist (UK); Jed Geyerhahn (USA), Steen Piculell, Ashok Bhagani, Trustee, UK Sathya Sai Organisation

Daily Telegraph, Saturday October 28, 2000. Divine Downfall, Mick Brown

Tehelka, November 29, 2002.  Sathya Sai Central Trust: grab as grab can

Tehelka, November 29, 2002.  Is the Sai Baba’s empire beginning to disintegrate?

Tehelka, November 29, 2002.  Ashram Mandiram: fortress of solitude

India Today, Cover story: Sathya Sai Baba: Test of Faith.  Monday, December 4, 2000. Test of Faith, Amarnath K. Menon, Ashok Malik. SAI BABA:  A God Accused.  Vijay Jung Thapa with Lavina Melwani (New York), Syed Zubair Ahmed (London), Arthur J. Pais (San Francisco)

India Today, resulting letters to; archived  

The Ottawa Citizen, Tuesday, December 19, 2000. The Man Believers Think is God. Bob Harvey

The Times of India, December 26, 2000, Sai Baba Lashes Out At Detractors.  B.S. Manu Rao

Toronto Star, January 14, 2001, Guru shrugs off sex allegations. Tom Harper

Vancouver Sun, February 27, 2001. Holy man? Sex abuser? Both? Douglas Todd

The Times of India, August 9, 2001. Tight security for Sai Baba after LTTE threat

Salon.com, July 25, 2001.  Untouchable, Parts 1 to 4. Michelle Goldberg

Times of London, Monday August 27, 2001. Monday August 27, 2001. Suicide, sex and the guru, Dominic Kennedy

The Times of London, Monday August 27, 2001. Three die after putting faith in guru, Dominic Kennedy

Times of London, August 27, 2001. I sought peace and couldn’t find it. Michael Dynes and Dominic Kennedy

The Times News Network, August 27, 2001. British Law Against Sai Baba Sought. Rashmee Z. Ahmed (ed. i.e., Times of Indian, not Times of London)

The Hindustan Times, August 27, 2001.  Sai Baba could be put on UK blacklist. Vijay Dutt, London 

The Age (Melbourne, Australia), Saturday-Sunday, November 12, 2000. Scandal engulfs guru’s empire

DR (Denmark’s national radio and television broadcaster), January 30, 2002. Seduced by Sai Baba. Producer-Presenter, Øjvind Kyrø

Gatopardo (A leading Chilean Magazine), Febuary, 2002. No. 21 Yr 20. Divine Sin.  Alejandro Agostinelli

Noticias (Argentinean Magazine), August 17, 2001, Bad Faith Business, Juan Alonso: 

Nexus, (Australian/International bi-monthly magazine) Vol 10, N­o. 4. June-July 2003. Sai Baba Allegations Grow. Barry Pittard

The Australian Financial Review, 21 November 2003.  The Trouble with Gurus. Mary Garden

BBC News, June 17, 2004, Sai Baba: God-man or con man? Tanya Datta 

The Scotsman, June 18, 2004, Guru who gives us no answers. Tom Adair

The Guardian, June 18, 2004. Spiritual Depths. Rupert Smith

The Observer, Sunday June 20, 2004. Deity dancing. Kathryn Flett

The New Statesman, Monday, June 21, 2004. Laying on of hands. The guru who thinks he’s God is exposed as far from divine. Andrew Billen

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio National, The World Today, Friday, 25 June, 2004.  Guru glamour uncovered. Interviewer: Rachel Kohn. Guests, Mary Garden, Australian author, Mick Brown, English author and Daily Telegraph journalist

The Guardian. The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of Edinburgh awards. Saturday, November 4, 2006. Paul Lewis

DNA (Daily News and Analysis, India). Sunday, November 05, 2006. A holy furore rages in Britain. Ginnie Mahajan and Brajesh Kumar

Some Indian News Headlines on Sai Baba controversial remarks on the Telangana issue

Times of India, Jan 24, 2007. TRS cries hoarse over Sai Baba’s Telangana stance

Times of India, Jan 24, 2007. Cong ignores Sai Baba’s remarks

The Hindu. Special Correspondent, Jan 25, 2007. Agnivesh Flays Baba’s Remarks

Andhra Cafe, India, Jan 21, 2007. KCR condemns Sai Baba’s Anti-Telangana comments

CNN-IBN, India, Jan 23, 2007. Sai Baba lands in a Telangana row

Hindustan Times, India, Jan 22, 2007. Telangana activists upset with Sai Baba

Wikinews reports on Telangana issue. (There are some further news sources cited at the foot of this Wiki article)

Cancellation of ‘moon miracle’

Sify News and many Indian media carried the IANS (Indo-Asian News Service feed on this). Friday, October 5, 2007. Sai Baba’s Moon Miracle Fails

Note: Close on the heels of the Guardian article The Indian living god, The paedophilia claims and the Duke of Edinburgh awards by Paul Lewis, an historic Indian media feed seachange started to happen. There were many IANS (Indo-Asian News Service) feeds to Indian and a few foreign media which referred to this article, with some added input from IANS Staffer Sudeshna Sarkar, Nepal, who followed up on the story, and filed from London. This broke decades’-long silence from an Indian press which almost exclusively has censored news adverse to the extraordinarily powerful and influential Sathya Sai Baba. The Telangana issue, in which vast conflicting interests were involved, was the next blow to Sai Baba’s virtual immunity to criticism in the Indian media. This marked change was yet again witnessed in early October 2007 in the wide Indian press coverage of reports that Sai Baba had promised a great divine miracle, subsequently cancelled when clouds appeared, in which thousands of his devotees gathered at his private airport would, it seems he had promised via his close aide and chief translator Professor Anil Kumar, see the universal form of God (or vishwarupa darshanam) in the moon. Again, it was the upstart news agency IANS which was aggressive in gettings its feeds accepted in India. It may be argued that, with so many NRI’s (non-resident Indians) freely reading news and views highly critical of Sai Baba in other countries around the world, that with new generational influences in Indian media far more inclined to secularism, and that what with the arrival of a rising ’star’ news agency like IANS, Sai Baba and his semi-feudal, ancien régime servitors and minders are in ever faster decline. There are many signs, including BBC footage and other photographic evidence, along with travelers’ and ashram inmates’ reports that cannot be denied by any except his most blinded followers that his health, both mental and physical, are in serious decline.

Indian Gurus Stifle India’s Chance To Excel

Intense and blind faith in gurus, such as one finds endemic in India, shames a great many of her otherwise educated individuals, including scientists. It jeopardizes her opportunities to gain unstinting international respect.

Guru Worship

Still flinging themselves passionately at the feet of gurus, and worshipping them as God incarnate, they ignore the gurus’ absurd pronouncements on matters scientific. This would matter badly enough if the gurus were small local gods and demigods, because no communities should need to suffer from such gross ignorance and superstition, which always tend to spread, anyway. However there are many gurus in India who have vast followings and they are extremely powerful and influential. They also attract many young, impressionable people from many countries. Because I lived lengthily in India, living with some wonderful Indian families, and worked beside Indians from a wide array of backgrounds and religious and non-religious affiliations, I was able to gain a sense of how deeply ashamed many thoughtful and sensible Indian people are of these gurus and the harm that they do.

Some Indian Gurus Attract Millions of Followers

Sai Baba, to take one of a number of instances, is worshipped as God incarnate by millions, and his devotees have numbered a series of prime ministers, presidents, as well as countless other power brokers in the highest echelons, often irrespective of party affiliation. 

Guru Worship Poses Grave Harm to India’s International Reputation

These mental gymnastics that allow so many educated Indians to listen to the utterest balderdash from gurus like Sai Baba, will increasingly shame India before the world as she vies for superpower status, and as the international spotlight falls increasingly on her. She may not be stage-struck, but she is, all-too-often guru struck. If she were to manage to secure genuine moral highground, enough countries might feel greater pleasure doing business with her, in preference to China, with her continued and huge-scale human rights abuses. (Not that India does not have to address many very serious human rights abuses). But how can she, when she is in such a parlous mess in so many areas?

Another India, Another Time

One of the greatest privileges I ever had was, in my years spent in India, meeting a number of wonderful individuals who not only faced with dignity, integrity and courage the evils of British imperialism but also the oppressions meeted out during Mrs Indira Gandhi’s 21-month 1975-1977 Emergency. Some Judges I met had made the grand refusal to see good laws perverted, and made great sacrifices, including jail, to show their non-cooperation. They reminded me of Sir Thomas More the Lord Chancellor of Tudor times who stood up to his monarch, Henry VIII, one of the most absolute of history’s rulers, and was prepared to be tortured and to die for doing so. Those I met who were in the Indian army were of an era when there was a great pride taken by the Indian people in their armed forces and whose behaviour was in such marked to distinction to her perpetually cruel and hated police forces. 

Perhaps only younger and more questioning generations of Indians will be able to make the difference, and that can only be when  gerontocratic ruling hands are prized from their deadly grip at the merciful time of death of these incredibly corrupt individuals (most of them men!).

Below, which I excerpt from an article by Robert Priddy - Global Warming and Prophecies - is but one example of the crass scientific ignorance I refer to:

Sai Baba has evidently picked up some stray thoughts from visitors and his educated servitors about the ozone layer and CO2 pollution and has mentioned the problem in a few sentences.

We see that Sai Baba was unaware that CFC gases were the primary cause of ozone depletion, for he believes that tree-planting (afforestation) could correct ozone depletion. He is ignorant of the science and obviously confuses ozone depletion with CO2 increase.

Further Reading

Indian Media’s Reticence on Top Guru, Sathya Sai Baba, Weakens

Quote: “Breaking decades of virtual Indian media silence on comment critical of Sathya Sai Baba, a number of major Indian news organizations have run (mostly November 22, 2006) the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) report on Paul Lewis’s article in The Guardian, ‘The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of Edinburgh awards’“…

Sai Baba’s “Back Yard” Still A Mess

Quote: “Will more Indian activists Speak Out? Activism from within India against Sai Baba and his worldwide cult, the Sathya Sai Organization, and other corrupt gurus is crucial. Activists know best their own culture. It would be good to see many more critics than the courageous B.Premanand and Swami Agnivesh and a handful of others speak out against the abuses” ….