New Delhi, Apr 19: Controversial godman Nirmal Baba has offered clarifications over several controversies that have recently arisen.
Addressing a samagam (gathering) of his devotees at Delhi's Talkatora Stadium on Wednesday, Nirmal Baba said, he had advised his devotees to depoit their 'shiv lingams' in temples because he found that most of the lingams were not being given the due reverence in homes.
Because of Nirmal Baba's advice, a large number of devotees began depositing their shiv lingams in temples, leading to furore among temple priests in Chhatisgarh, MP, UP and Delhi.
On Wednesday, Nirmal Baba alleged that all this was part of a conspiracy by some elements who were trying to defame and denigrate him.
"It seems to be a conspiracy to rouse religious passions. I had only advised my devotees to offer their prayers at shiv lingams in temples, because shiv lingams kept in homes are not given proper reverence.", said the baba.
My devotees are themselves exposing these conspiracies. It's they (media) who are being exposed by bringing forth fake devotees and getting them to say things against me", Nirmal Baba said.
One of the devotees at the 'samagam' told Nirmal Baba that efforts are being made to persecute him just as Shirdi Sai Baba faced opposition during his lifetime.
The devotee said, "even Sai Baba used to show his magical powers just like you (Nirmal Baba) do."
One of the excited devotees at the samagam said, "they (the media) will face the wrath of fate, definitely. "
Replying to the charge of an ex-devotee Harish Vir Singh from Meerut that his diabetes treatment got derailed because the baba advised him to eat 'kheer' (sweet milk dish), the self-styled godman told the gathering: "He should be subject to a lie detector test. Nobody, least of all me, will advise him to go eating kheer. He should even know how to copy the way I advise my devotees."
The baba had been advising inane methods to his devotees, like asking somebody to use locks made in Aligarh only, and to someone he advised him to keep black coloured purse only.
Rationalists and other Hindu saints are up in arms against Nirmal Baba saying that he was trying to "dupe naive people".
One of the rationalists, Sanal Edmarku even challenged the baba to prove in front of him in scientific conditions that he had indeed supernatural powers.
Nirmal Baba, former name Nirmaljit Singh Nirula, was born in 1952 in Samana Mandi near Patiala, Punjab. He is the youngest of two brothers and three sisters. His eldest sister is dead, while his brother Manjit Singh lives in Ludhiana. One of his sisters is married to former Jharkhand assembly speaker and BJP MP Inder Singh Namdhari, while the third sister lives in Delhi.
In 1970, after the murder of his father, Nirmaljit Singh was sent to Daltonganj, Jharkhand by his mother. He stayed with Namdhari and his wife.
In 1981, at the age of 29 years, Nirmaljit Singh began his brick kiln business. It was called Nirmal Bricks and was located in Kakari under Chainpur block of Daltonganj. After suffering losses, he set up a cloth business the next year in Garhwa, near Daltonganj. It was named Namdhari Cloth House, but it shut shop after some years suffering losses.
Nirmaljit was married to Sushma, daughter of Dilip Singh Bagga, a resident of Daltonganj. He has a son and a daughter. After remaining unemployed, Nirmaljit shifted from Daltonganj to Ranchi, where he used to stay in a house on Piska More.
After the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Nirmaljit sold his house in Ranchi and shifted to Delhi. He tried his hand in several businesses for nearly 10 years, and returned empty-handed to Daltonganj.
He now entered limestone and transport business of his in-laws. In 1998, he managed to get a mining lease in Bahragoda in Jharkhand. He also failed in this business. During this time, he cultivated the hobby of palmistry and used to randomly predict future to people who came for advice.
In 1999, Nirmaljit returned to Delhi again and this time, with the help of some associates, he began to hold 'durbars'. From here, the number of his devotees began to increase and his Nirmal Durbar began to appear on several TV channels.
