Posted by muslimmalaysia786 on March 4, 2010
Protest over Swami Nithyananda’s alleged sex video
CHENNAI/BANGALORE: A salacious tape containing alleged sexual acts of godman Nithyananda Paramahamsa, telecast by a Tamil TV channel repeatedly since Tuesday night, triggered violence across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with disciples in his ashrams located in the two states being roughed up and his property damaged by the irate public.
The tape, aired by the channel, shows a man, similar in appearance to the young long-haired godman, in a few minutes of sexual romp allegedly with a Tamil actor. The incident also evoked a sharp response from Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi. When asked in Tiruchi about the alleged sexual excesses by the godmen, the CM said a meeting of a high-level committee comprising members of the state-run Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department and other top officials would be convened to discuss and decide on the course of action the government planned to take to curb the trend.
Nithyananda made a vain bid late in the evening to restrain the media from airing the tape, but a city civil court did not grant any stay, as sought by the godman, but merely ordered notices to some news organisations. In his petition, he claimed that the video footage was a fake and morphed one. He blamed an inmate of his ashram, Premananda alias Lenin Karuppan, for the morphing of his face with the idea of defaming him. The petition has been posted to March 8 for further hearing. The godman said he had 45 lakh devotees in 17 countries and was involved in social work and education besides spiritual activities.
In Chennai, a group of advocates lodged a complaint against the godman at the police commissionerate, seeking criminal action against him. Alleging that he had amassed wealth worth several crores of rupees, they demanded that the government confiscate his properties and freeze his accounts. In Coimbatore, the godman’s posters were ripped off the street walls and staff in a yoga centre run by his devotees fled fearing an attack.
Reacting to the defamatory video, a statement from the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam at Bidadi in Karnataka said: ‘‘A mix of conspiracy, graphics and rumour are at play in these recent events that have unfolded. We are working on a legal course of action and will come up with updates in due course.”
An uneasy calm prevailed around the 14-acre ashram at Dasanakoppalu, near Bidadi, in the suburbs of Bangalore. Police cordoned off the ashram premises to prevent the public from creating trouble.
MUSLIMS AND LITERATURE
BY DILARA HAFIZ, MARCH 3, 2010
“Who here has read Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book Infidel?” For the first time in three years, not a single person raised their hand. At book club meetings, church gatherings, women’s groups, and Islamic presentations across this country, countless hands usually shoot up in the air in response to my question. My predominantly non-Muslim American audiences love to embrace Hirsi Ali’s experiences as applicable to Muslim women the world over. Why are they so quick to believe one ex-Muslim woman’s autobiographical tale?
Is it because she denounces Islam as ‘barbaric, backward, and bigoted’ – all traits which resonate with people unfamiliar with Islam? If people are truly curious about Islam, then why aren’t books by practicing Muslim women flying off the shelves – books like Why I Am A Muslim by Asma Gul Hassan, War on Error by Melody Moezzi, or Living Islam Out Loud by Saleemah Abdul Gafur?
My sneaking suspicion is that people are willing to believe the worst about Islam because they can then justify the public airing of their private intolerance – they are given free rein to voice their misconceptions, smug with complacency that anything they read in print must be true, especially when it’s spreading poisonous hatred about Islam. This willful ignorance seems particular to the topic of Islam because, funnily enough, books like In the Shadow of the Cross: The True Account of My Childhood Sexual and Ritual Abuse at the Hands of a Roman Catholic Priest by Charles L. Bailey Jr. or Sex, Lies, and Rabbis: Breaking a Sacred Trust by Charlotte Schwab didn’t seem to garner either the public’s interest or the media’s attention. According to Amazon’s Sales Rankings, Bailey’s book, released January 2007, just one month prior to Hirsi Ali’s book, presently comes in at 566,088. Schwab’s book languishes at 2,173,819 sales rank seven years after publication. Infidel is ranked 1,386.
I’m troubled by this disconnect. True, Amazon’s sales rankings certainly aren’t the definitive word on America’s book buying habits, but as a useful barometer of mainstream popularity, I do find these statistics to expose an undercurrent of Islamophobia/Islam Allergy. In these uncertain times people seem willing to believe the very worst of their neighbors, and are all too eager for propaganda books like Infidel which offer a politically correct outlet for their otherwise concealed bigotry. Hating Islam outright isn’t socially acceptable (yet), but if it is done in the name of women’s liberation or equal education, one goes from a lowly bigot to a lofty crusader for social change. This disturbing media trend gives people license to maintain hateful views about other people, all under the convenient guise of justice.
Regardless of the many intelligent, reasonable Muslims who strive in word and deed to prove their essential humanity, the masses seem to be massing, restless to blame the ‘other.’ When the hushed whispers of hatred become a drumbeat across this country, it’ll be too late to turn the tide. We need to redouble our efforts, whether they be interfaith dialogue, community service, public service, media, the arts, education, sports – speak up to define Islam! You don’t need to be a religious scholar; after all, Hirsi Ali acknowledges her total ignorance about Islamic principles but her admission didn’t give millions of people pause when they accepted her pronouncements as coming from the voice of an authority. This article is not an incitement for proselytizing, but rather a plea for us to open our eyes to the damage one woman has single-handedly done to the understanding of Islam. It’s up to us to painstakingly suture this gaping wound before American Muslims find their wellbeing as citizens of this country irreparably damaged.
As co-author of The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook, my son, Imran, jokes with me that he could have sold ten times the number of books if he had written a book titled Rebellion: One Boy’s Escape From The Tyrannical Clutches of Islam. Sad…but true. It is far easier it is to believe the worst about a group when you simply don’t know them.
In case you’re curious about the last presentation – we were speaking to a progressive Jewish reconstructionist group. It seems one religious minority had no interest in reading the narrow-minded ravings of a person out to slander another religious minority. Thank you, Kadima – you made my day and gave me hope that there are others out there who are willing to suspend judgment until they’ve actually met a Muslim.
(Photo: Mutasim Billah Pritam)
This entry was posted on March 4, 2010 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
No Responses Yet to “Why ‘Infidel’? A salacious tape containing alleged sexual acts of godman Nithyananda Paramahamsa, telecast by a Tamil TV”
1.
K.Venugopal said
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 4, 2010 at 6:31 pm
The video showing Swami in compromising acts is not genuine because:
1. At one point the Swamiji (look alike) sports moustache.
2. From some angles the look-alike does not look like Swami.
3. If it was a sting operation to expose the Swami, and the actress was part of the plot, why was the light switched off at the crucial moment? The whole purpose of the sting operation would have been to expose the Swamiji in the act of sexual intercourse. Why was this act not videographed? Because videographing the sexual act would have exposed Swami’s full body and it would have become clear that it was not the Swami? It seems that the plan was to show as little of the Swami’s body as possible so that the look-alike was not exposed.
4. If the sting operation was carried out without the knowledge of the actress, the movement of the actress sliding up the Swamiji to get water and swami’s reaction looks contrived. This indicates that both the Swami and the actress roles were played by look-alikes.
5. Two different girls were involved on two different days, which appears to have been previous night and following morning. A fixed CCTV video would have shown the two girls simultaneously. This proves the videography was carried out with look-alikes who were suitably directed – not by a fixed CCTV from a hidden place.
6. It appears that the Swami got up the second day in the morning, because his yawn is a give away. Then why was the light switched off after some point even in the morning? This also proves that the characters involved are all look-alikes.
7. Why is the Swami looking so intently at the TV even when the actress was massaging his legs and more? Apparently he was waiting for his cue from the director to begin playing the part. If it was the Swami, the reaction to the actress massaging him would have looked natural.
8. If technology to produce a clear video was used, why was the conversation not caught? Because the look-alikes could not imitate the true voices?
Reply
http://muslimmalaysia786.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/why-%e2%80%98infidel%e2%80%99%e2%80%a8-a-salacious-tape-containing-alleged-sexual-acts-of-godman-nithyananda-paramahamsa-telecast-by-a-tamil-tv/#comment-56
Protest over Swami Nithyananda’s alleged sex video
CHENNAI/BANGALORE: A salacious tape containing alleged sexual acts of godman Nithyananda Paramahamsa, telecast by a Tamil TV channel repeatedly since Tuesday night, triggered violence across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with disciples in his ashrams located in the two states being roughed up and his property damaged by the irate public.
The tape, aired by the channel, shows a man, similar in appearance to the young long-haired godman, in a few minutes of sexual romp allegedly with a Tamil actor. The incident also evoked a sharp response from Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi. When asked in Tiruchi about the alleged sexual excesses by the godmen, the CM said a meeting of a high-level committee comprising members of the state-run Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department and other top officials would be convened to discuss and decide on the course of action the government planned to take to curb the trend.
Nithyananda made a vain bid late in the evening to restrain the media from airing the tape, but a city civil court did not grant any stay, as sought by the godman, but merely ordered notices to some news organisations. In his petition, he claimed that the video footage was a fake and morphed one. He blamed an inmate of his ashram, Premananda alias Lenin Karuppan, for the morphing of his face with the idea of defaming him. The petition has been posted to March 8 for further hearing. The godman said he had 45 lakh devotees in 17 countries and was involved in social work and education besides spiritual activities.
In Chennai, a group of advocates lodged a complaint against the godman at the police commissionerate, seeking criminal action against him. Alleging that he had amassed wealth worth several crores of rupees, they demanded that the government confiscate his properties and freeze his accounts. In Coimbatore, the godman’s posters were ripped off the street walls and staff in a yoga centre run by his devotees fled fearing an attack.
Reacting to the defamatory video, a statement from the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam at Bidadi in Karnataka said: ‘‘A mix of conspiracy, graphics and rumour are at play in these recent events that have unfolded. We are working on a legal course of action and will come up with updates in due course.”
An uneasy calm prevailed around the 14-acre ashram at Dasanakoppalu, near Bidadi, in the suburbs of Bangalore. Police cordoned off the ashram premises to prevent the public from creating trouble.
MUSLIMS AND LITERATURE
BY DILARA HAFIZ, MARCH 3, 2010
“Who here has read Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book Infidel?” For the first time in three years, not a single person raised their hand. At book club meetings, church gatherings, women’s groups, and Islamic presentations across this country, countless hands usually shoot up in the air in response to my question. My predominantly non-Muslim American audiences love to embrace Hirsi Ali’s experiences as applicable to Muslim women the world over. Why are they so quick to believe one ex-Muslim woman’s autobiographical tale?
Is it because she denounces Islam as ‘barbaric, backward, and bigoted’ – all traits which resonate with people unfamiliar with Islam? If people are truly curious about Islam, then why aren’t books by practicing Muslim women flying off the shelves – books like Why I Am A Muslim by Asma Gul Hassan, War on Error by Melody Moezzi, or Living Islam Out Loud by Saleemah Abdul Gafur?
My sneaking suspicion is that people are willing to believe the worst about Islam because they can then justify the public airing of their private intolerance – they are given free rein to voice their misconceptions, smug with complacency that anything they read in print must be true, especially when it’s spreading poisonous hatred about Islam. This willful ignorance seems particular to the topic of Islam because, funnily enough, books like In the Shadow of the Cross: The True Account of My Childhood Sexual and Ritual Abuse at the Hands of a Roman Catholic Priest by Charles L. Bailey Jr. or Sex, Lies, and Rabbis: Breaking a Sacred Trust by Charlotte Schwab didn’t seem to garner either the public’s interest or the media’s attention. According to Amazon’s Sales Rankings, Bailey’s book, released January 2007, just one month prior to Hirsi Ali’s book, presently comes in at 566,088. Schwab’s book languishes at 2,173,819 sales rank seven years after publication. Infidel is ranked 1,386.
I’m troubled by this disconnect. True, Amazon’s sales rankings certainly aren’t the definitive word on America’s book buying habits, but as a useful barometer of mainstream popularity, I do find these statistics to expose an undercurrent of Islamophobia/Islam Allergy. In these uncertain times people seem willing to believe the very worst of their neighbors, and are all too eager for propaganda books like Infidel which offer a politically correct outlet for their otherwise concealed bigotry. Hating Islam outright isn’t socially acceptable (yet), but if it is done in the name of women’s liberation or equal education, one goes from a lowly bigot to a lofty crusader for social change. This disturbing media trend gives people license to maintain hateful views about other people, all under the convenient guise of justice.
Regardless of the many intelligent, reasonable Muslims who strive in word and deed to prove their essential humanity, the masses seem to be massing, restless to blame the ‘other.’ When the hushed whispers of hatred become a drumbeat across this country, it’ll be too late to turn the tide. We need to redouble our efforts, whether they be interfaith dialogue, community service, public service, media, the arts, education, sports – speak up to define Islam! You don’t need to be a religious scholar; after all, Hirsi Ali acknowledges her total ignorance about Islamic principles but her admission didn’t give millions of people pause when they accepted her pronouncements as coming from the voice of an authority. This article is not an incitement for proselytizing, but rather a plea for us to open our eyes to the damage one woman has single-handedly done to the understanding of Islam. It’s up to us to painstakingly suture this gaping wound before American Muslims find their wellbeing as citizens of this country irreparably damaged.
As co-author of The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook, my son, Imran, jokes with me that he could have sold ten times the number of books if he had written a book titled Rebellion: One Boy’s Escape From The Tyrannical Clutches of Islam. Sad…but true. It is far easier it is to believe the worst about a group when you simply don’t know them.
In case you’re curious about the last presentation – we were speaking to a progressive Jewish reconstructionist group. It seems one religious minority had no interest in reading the narrow-minded ravings of a person out to slander another religious minority. Thank you, Kadima – you made my day and gave me hope that there are others out there who are willing to suspend judgment until they’ve actually met a Muslim.
(Photo: Mutasim Billah Pritam)
This entry was posted on March 4, 2010 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
No Responses Yet to “Why ‘Infidel’? A salacious tape containing alleged sexual acts of godman Nithyananda Paramahamsa, telecast by a Tamil TV”
1.
K.Venugopal said
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 4, 2010 at 6:31 pm
The video showing Swami in compromising acts is not genuine because:
1. At one point the Swamiji (look alike) sports moustache.
2. From some angles the look-alike does not look like Swami.
3. If it was a sting operation to expose the Swami, and the actress was part of the plot, why was the light switched off at the crucial moment? The whole purpose of the sting operation would have been to expose the Swamiji in the act of sexual intercourse. Why was this act not videographed? Because videographing the sexual act would have exposed Swami’s full body and it would have become clear that it was not the Swami? It seems that the plan was to show as little of the Swami’s body as possible so that the look-alike was not exposed.
4. If the sting operation was carried out without the knowledge of the actress, the movement of the actress sliding up the Swamiji to get water and swami’s reaction looks contrived. This indicates that both the Swami and the actress roles were played by look-alikes.
5. Two different girls were involved on two different days, which appears to have been previous night and following morning. A fixed CCTV video would have shown the two girls simultaneously. This proves the videography was carried out with look-alikes who were suitably directed – not by a fixed CCTV from a hidden place.
6. It appears that the Swami got up the second day in the morning, because his yawn is a give away. Then why was the light switched off after some point even in the morning? This also proves that the characters involved are all look-alikes.
7. Why is the Swami looking so intently at the TV even when the actress was massaging his legs and more? Apparently he was waiting for his cue from the director to begin playing the part. If it was the Swami, the reaction to the actress massaging him would have looked natural.
8. If technology to produce a clear video was used, why was the conversation not caught? Because the look-alikes could not imitate the true voices?
Reply
http://muslimmalaysia786.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/why-%e2%80%98infidel%e2%80%99%e2%80%a8-a-salacious-tape-containing-alleged-sexual-acts-of-godman-nithyananda-paramahamsa-telecast-by-a-tamil-tv/#comment-56
http://www.123breakingnews.com/scandal-of-swami-nityananda-61202-123/comment-page-1#comment-13209
This is not a genuine video. Why light switched off? Sting operation would have meant catching Swami in act of sexual intercourse. Why no audio? Because the actors could not mimic Swamiji's voice? Minimal show of Swami's body because the look alike did not want to compromise himself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ks97eYaTD4
It does not appear to be a genuine video. It does not seem to be caught by hidden CCTV but appears to be produced with look-alikes and a directed camera. A sting operation would have intended to catch the swami in the act of sexual intercourse. But the light was conveniently switched off. Was the plot to show minimal of swami's body because anything more and the look alike would have been compromised? Also, why no audio? Is it because the actor could not mimic the swami's voice?
[Posted in Haindava Keralam.]
