Dhirendra Krishna Shastri has been at the centre of several controversies. The self-styled godman was openly challenged by the founder of the longest-running Anti-superstition movement in India, the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti’.
More commonly known as ‘Bageshwar Dham Baba’, Dhirendra Krisha Shastri shot to fame mostly due to social media. After not being able to find a prime time slot with the national media, the Baba took to social media.
Dhirendra Krishna Shastri. Credits – Jansatta
After his controversy over black magic came into the limelight, several of his older comments and actions also came to the forefront.
A video went viral in 2022, where the ‘baba’ is seen practising untouchability. The video shows a darbar which is attended by thousands of his followers. Dhirendra Shastri calls out a man named Jeevan. On him inviting ‘Jeevan’ to the stage, an elderly person dressed in rusty white walks up to the stage. As soon as ‘Jeevan’ made it to the stage, they rushed to touch the feet of Shastri.
Shastri is seen shrugging off the man after allegedly calling him an ‘achyut’ or untouchable. As soon as the 17 seconds clip started making rounds on social media, which invited a great deal of trolling. Dhirendra Shastri’s organisation later released a statement and said that he called himself an untouchable and not a man.
For a brief period, Dhirendra Shastri was also referred to as the Bulldozer baba. While addressing a large gathering in his hometown, Chhatarpur, Shastri was seen urging Hindus to unite.
“I request all the Hindus to unite and run a bulldozer on the houses of those who hit stones at you.” Dhirendra Shastri’s statement was met with thunderous applause from the crowd. He further appealed to all the ‘coward’ Hindus to ‘pick up weapons’ against those ‘who pelt stones at on Ram Navami procession’.
Although Shastri did not name any particular community, there was a clear indication of his attacking the country’s biggest minority with his statement.
