BBC 'Secret Swami' Programme Bias

Sanjay Kishore Dadlani
Middlesex University Student Residing In The UK

After exposing Anti-Sai Activist's involvement with Paul Lewis' Guardian Article and Michelle Goldberg's Salon.com Article, I think it is appropriate to divulge the same Anti-Sai bias in the BBC "Secret Swami" production.

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Bill Aitken's Opinion About The "Secret Swami" Program
"Secret Swami" Discussed In The Asian Voice
Tanya Datta Talks To Dr Murli Manohar Joshi About Letter
Suppressing Anti-Guru Bias On The "Secret Swami" Documentary
An Open Admission Of Bias About The Secret Swami Video
Pertaining To 'Secret Swami' Witness, Mark Roche
Pertaining To 'Secret Swami' Witness, Alaya Rahm

Bill Aitken's Opinion About The "Secret Swami" Program:
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Not only has the BBC.co.uk repeatedly been accused of bias, Bill Aitken (an expert in comparative religion and a travel writer) said about their program against Sathya Sai Baba:

"The latest in these so called exposes is a BBC documentary whose agenda was so predetermined to denigrate Baba that it stooped to the unethical use of a spy camera. In a last farcical gesture, the producer hired some roadside entertainers to attempt to simulate Baba's chamatkar. The result is so ludicrous that it leaves the viewer wondering as to who is funding this bizarre display of hostile reporting. The BBC is ultimately governed by the Anglican establishment, and churches in the west are losing out financially to the appeal of the Sai Baba movement. As a commercial broadcaster, the BBC's opting for sleaze would have the dual advantage of discrediting a rival as well as getting good audience rating. The Church of England can have no objection to programmes that weaken perceived threats—like the papacy or Hindu holy men—to its (declining) influence in the world. Posing as a lion in Asia, the BBC is a mouse in Britain. It dare not criticise public icons like the Queen, who happens to be the supremo of the Anglican church." (Reference)

"Secret Swami" Discussed In The Asian Voice:
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In an interview with an Asian Voice correspondent, Mr Ashok Bhagani (a trustee of the Sai Organisation in the UK) said that he believed the allegations in the Secret Swami BBC documentary were completely factless and baseless and have never been proved. Mr Bhagani also stated that when devotees are selected by Baba for a private interview, there is always someone else present in the room, and this is especially the case when women and children meet him (Reference).

Navin Patel, a biochemistry student at the Sathya Sai Arts College in Bangalore during the 1970s, told Asian Voice that he visited Baba's ashram many times and studied at Baba's college long enough to know the allegations were untrue. Patel claimed the 'Secret Swami' BBC documentary was very misleading and was based on only two westerners who had their own monetary agendas. Patel expressed the opinion that western journalists were bashing Baba collectively (Reference).

Tanya Datta Talks To Dr Murli Manohar Joshi About Letter:
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In the "Secret Swami" documentary, Tanya Datta queried Dr Murli Manohar Joshi about an official letter (released to the general public in December 2001) signed by A.B. Vajpayee (the then Prime Minister of India), P.N. Bhagawati (Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India), Ranganath Mishra (Chair Person, National Human Rights Commissioner of India and Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India), Najma Heptulla (President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; UNDP Distinguished Human Development Ambassador) and Shivraj V. Patil (Member of Parliament, India; Formerly of the Lok Sabda & Union Minister) in which they all called the allegations against the Indian guru Satya Sai Baba "wild, reckless and concocted allegations made by certain vested interests" and that they "unequivocally condemned" the allegations as "baseless and malicious" (Reference).

Suppressing Anti-Guru Bias On The "Secret Swami" Documentary:
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Interesting enough, Khushwant Singh (an Indian Journalist consulted in the Secret Swami programme) stated in the GuruBusters video that he holds Anti-Guru and Rationalist views. Mr Singh said, "What you cannot prove by your reason, we reject...I reject God...I can only be wishful and say I hope that rationalism will thrive in this country as it has in some others." For some mysterious reason, Mr Singh's Anti-Guru and Rationalist views were not divulged in the Secret Swami programme.

An Open Admission Of Bias About The "Secret Swami" Video:
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Within the past 5-6 months, Andries Krugers Dagneaux (former webmaster and current "Main Representative, Supervisor and Contact" for the largest Anti-Sai Site on the internet, hetnet.nl/~exbaba: Reference) made several very disturbing claims that Michelle Goldberg (from salon.com), the Danish Radio (which produced the Seduced documentary), Tanya Datta (correspondent for the BBC in the production of the Secret Swami programme) and the BBC itself accepted, promoted the views of and were sympathetic with Anti-Sai Activists: Reference! It is true that Tanya Datta wrote an article promoting the Secret Swami programme in exclusive association with Basava Premanand (an atheist and long term critic & skeptic of Sathya Sai Baba since 1968). Tanya Datta also worked in close association with Premanand prior to the making of the Secret Swami programme.

Pertaining To "Secret Swami" Witness, Mark Roche:
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Mark Roche claimed in the Secret Swami documentary that he was allegedly abused once in 1976 (when he was approximately 25 years old) and maintained his devotion as a devotee to 1994 (for a period of 15 years). Strangely enough, Roche spent several weeks with Robert Priddy in 1994 and never gave any indication that he was upset with Baba or that anything was wrong. Mark Roche's testimony came from "out of the blue" and he has neither filed a basic police complaint, court case or even a written testimony about his alleged experiences with Sathya Sai Baba (Reference).

Pertaining To "Secret Swami" Witness, Alaya Rahm:
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According to Alexandra Nagel (in her paper "Shiva Shaki"), Alaya Rahm (the prime interviewee on the Secret Swami) claimed that "on two different occasions" Sathya Sai Baba turned his penis into a vagina or made his penis disappear and then reappear. Nagel said that she personally talked to Alaya Rahm (then using the pseudonym "Sam Young") and she obtained this first-hand testimony from him. Needless to say, nowhere else do we read this incredible (and simply unbelievable) claim from Alaya about Baba making his penis disappear and then reappear. Why not?

The testimonies of Alaya Rahm are sanitized versions of what Alaya actually encountered with Baba. In Alaya's testimonies, Sathya Sai Baba is depicted as a human, with no paranormal powers, who is forcing Alaya into having sex with him. However, factor in the accounts that Alaya Rahm gave to Alexandra Nagel where Baba literally went from having male genitals to female genitals and things begin to appear quite different. Of course, by adding the information that Alaya gave to Nagel, many would doubt Alaya's testimonies. Perhaps that's why it was never mentioned. However, factoring in the miraculous genitalia change, if it were true (and why would Alaya lie about it?), one could most certainly reason that since Baba has the miraculous ability to literally change from one gender to another, his actions, no matter how sexual, cannot be equated with those of a normal human being. This is not making an excuse for what happened to Alaya. It is simply a very valid observation based on the miraculous, physical transformation that Alaya attributed to SSB, but did not discuss in his public testimonies. Some have attributed this "genitalia switch" to Baba being a hermaphrodite. However, if we are to truly believe the accounts made by Alaya, Sathya Sai Baba had a fully functional penis as Alaya claimed he saw it.

As a matter of fact, Keith Ord gave a very compelling sexual encounter with Sathya Sai Baba that Anti-Sai Sites refuse to list in their sexual abuse section. Why? Because Keith Ord talked about Sathya Sai Baba literally morphing his penis into a vagina! Keith Ord specifically said that Baba was not a hermaphrodite, but that Baba literally changed his penis into a vagina. Of course, this claim makes Keith Ord's alleged sexual encounter with Baba sound crazy, which is why it is not listed under ExBaba's sexual abuse section. Furthermore, David Bailey accepted Keith Ord's story, but snipped out the "penis turned vagina" section because Bailey knew it would cast serious doubt on Keith Ord's credibility. If Keith Ord's testimony is seen as being unbelievable (because of the "genital switch" story), why is Alaya Rahm's not seen as being the same?

Consequently, we are presented with the possiblities that either Alaya Rham lied about his experiences or Sathya Sai Baba has the miraculous ability to change his gender at will. Which scenario sounds more plausible?

Secret Swami Related Links:
- Alaya Rahm's Self-Dissmissed Lawsuit
- A Scathing Response To Critics
- Alaya Rahm's Contradictory Testimonies

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RELATED BLOG LINKS: ANTI-SAI BIAS: » » Michelle Goldberg Salon.com Bias » » Paul Lewis, The Guardian & The Anti-Sai Hack Job