Swaroopanand triggers more row on Sai Baba

BHOPAL: Dwarakapeeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati triggered more controversy by calling Sai Baba, a courtesan's son.
"There was a pindari (plunder) named Waharuddin who came to Ahmednagar from Afghanistan. He had two children from a courtesan. One was named Chand Mian and the other was a girl. Chand Mian later became Sai Baba of Shirdi," Swaroopanand told media during his brief stay at Seoni district, 349 km from the state capital.
He refused to answer questions from media and said, "Why do you people want an FIR against me?. I don't want to comment."
Shankaracharya kicked off the controversy recently with a comment that Sai Baba, being a human being, should not be worshipped. This triggered angry protests in some parts of the country.
Maintaining his stand on Shirdi Sai Baba, Swaroopanand during his brief stay at Seoni, described Sai as a Muslim ascetic who should not be worshipped like a Hindu deity and said his campaign to protect Hindu religion will continue even if he is sent to jail.
"Sai Baba was a Muslim 'fakir'. He cannot be compared to Hindu deities," he said, adding some people were corrupting Hindu religion by arbitrarily creating new gods.
He had also targeted Uma Bharati, claiming when she became a Union minister, he thought a devotee of Ram had become a minister and a Ram temple in Ayodhya would soon be a reality, but he was mistaken as she turned out to be the ?worshipper of a Muslim'.
The police in Shirdi (Maharashtra) has already filed a case against Swaroopanand under sections 295A (outraging religious sentiments) and 298 (hurting religious sentiments) of IPC following a complaint by one Nitin Kote.