That you would have motive to malign dissident, former Sathya Sai Baba devotees, other than pious belief in the one you refer to as 'Bhagawan', may be indicated by some salient facts.  For the survival of your coalition Government, you vitally need 29 seats from his State of Andhra Pradesh, and hefty 'donations'. It is evident enough that you co-signed the letter as your part of the deal, making your interest political not religious

Further, it is well known in Whitehall (and, I assure you, soon enough beyond) that you complained to Tony Blair about the adverse publicity in the UK about Sathya Sai Baba. After initial promise, the UK Government took no action on a Motion in The House of Commons asking for warnings to be issued about the risks to young boys from Sai Baba. Yet, nearly 50 British MPs of various parties signed this Petition. Two months later, Ben Bradshaw, a former Foreign Office Minister, went, as Blair's confidential emissary, secretly to India to arrange a deal involving Hawker fighters and trainers Aircraft. Despite heavy criticism from a Select Committee of the House of Commons, the secret Blair-Vajpayee arms deal succeeded. After showing real interest in finding a way to issue official warnings against Sai Baba, the UK government dropped all action by all its agencies.  What prompted this change of course was your complaint to the British Prime Minister, in November 2001, on your visit to London about adverse British Publicity about Sai Baba. The British Government's reward was a highly lucrative arms deal. Your reward was British silence and fighter aircraft. This is not a very morally attractive sequence of events.

Barry Pittard.  Email:  bpittard@beachaccess.com.au