Stalking the rebel

Northern India Patrika, 21st Dec ’85

by Nirmal Nibedon and Vishwambhar Nath Arora

He had no desire to found a school or collect a following and his ambition seemed to stretch no further than passing unobtrusively through life. He had nothing to add to what ever little he had said to the chosen few. But the mountain of material left behind by him would speak volumes for posterity; this much was clear as we stalked this rebel.

At every place where he had stayed, we left temporarily defeated. Our interest was not waned; on the contrary, it had been heightened. The entire endeavour involved scattered and discursive investigations, which varied from a lengthy cross examination of Mrs Saraswati Shukla, whom Baba called as Ma Jagdamba, to secret interviews with the investigating authorities. In this way there was a measure of success in piecing to gather a fragment of the story.

Exactly 35 years ago the man had slipped into India from Nepal the trans-Himalayan land of mystery, and reached Lucknow city by night when Babu Sanpurnanand was the Chief Minister.

For a few years he stayed at the house situated in Shringar Nagar in Alam Bagh area. He even spent some six months at Khadia village, near the city. No one knew who he was, what he was or whence he came. Inquisitive inquiries who addressed his escorts received no reply for their pains. He spoke to none, heeded to calls of no persons.

The outskirts of a city like Lucknow were hardly suitable for a person who wished to live incognito. The modern recluses can only find favourable conditions in sparse jungle spots, forest retreats and mountain caves.

Security was the over riding concern of this Man. Have no doubt about it. "Restricted Security" would be more apt in the intelligence jargon. Close contact of the Man would brief another confident about the requirements. A hectic search would be launched for a suitable site, more than often than most unsuitable for meditation. Artificial ramparts would be built to the ancient buildings, high brick wall and fences around the location to secure more privacy. "B" knew only "A" and not the Man. A secret cell was constantly at work.

And, so, he shifted in the dark of the night in 1956 to Neemsaran, a pilgrim town in Sitapur and lived in hiding for six years. The pattern was the same. Whenever he felt that his cover was going to be blown, he sped away in a heavily curtained car by night with all his possessions following in two hired trucks. His helpers seemed to appear from nowhere for a swift getaway, like ghosts in the night. Every site was chosen keeping in mind an escape route to avoid detection by all and sundry. The entire operation was, in fact, orchestrated by the nameless personality and executed with military precision after his final clearance.

On the surface, he sought none and accepted none. Rumours often had it in the various locations that he was one of those solitaries who preferred to live in isolation in order to achieve his own spiritual liberation. None could foretell the movements of this enigmatic figure.

In 1962, the trail moved towards Ayodhya, where for the first few months he stayed at Shankar Niwas, in Darshan Nagar Village in an abandoned palatial building. It was a safe house and certain visitors from Bengal were expected.

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