Title : From behind the scenes of UNESCO : The Times of India cover up on Sai Baba- September 2000.
These e-mails exchanged between Hari Sampath, UNESCO officials, Times of India editor and other important senior officials of the UNESCO in Paris in the last week of September 2000 highlight the role of Times of India in covering up the real reasons behind the UNESCO withdrawal.
These internal e-mails exchanged between top officials of the UNESCO also show how seriously the UNESCO took the issue of pedophilia by Sai Baba.
After the UNESCO withdrawal from the Sai Baba conference and issuing a media release citing Sai Baba's pedophilia as the reason, the Times of India, which is a very pro Sai Baba newspaper, having in its board several Sai Baba devotees including Sai Baba central trust member PN Bhagawati, refused to publish the withdrawal notice and continued to promote the Sai Baba conference as a "UNESCO conference".
This prompted Hari Sampath to take the matter up with top officials of the UNESCO, and also petition the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the UNESCO establishment, as well as the permanent mission of India to the United Nations.
The UNESCO took up the issue with the Times of India, and finally forced them to publish the notification of UNESCO withdrawal, but the Times of India refused to publish the reasons of withdrawal cited by UNESCO.
This is very significant now, because one year back, the Times of India called Sai Baba a "respected spiritual figure by millions of Indians and foreigners". Now, the Times of India has chosen to carry The London Times, story of Sai Baba's pedophilia.
This clearly indicates that even the Times of India has had much to review in the last one year, including all the information given by UNESCO and Hari Sampath.
This shows how the tide has turned even among pro Sai Baba newspapers in India.
Hari Sampath's letter to the UNESCO about Times of India
Hari Sampath's follow up
letter to UNESCO, on the Times of India newspaper's position