Why is Asaram 'Bapu' name dropping from Jodhpur jail?

Two presidents, three prime ministers and a galaxy of incumbent political luminaries cutting across the ideological spectrum - Asaram Bapu clearly has many names to drop. And that is exactly what the man (god?), incarcerated in Jodhpur jail since autumn 2013, is doing.

The latest "special" issue of Rishi Prasad, a 12-page pamphlet published by the godman's unhesitating followers - it bears a cover price of three rupees, but was hand-delivered to me free of any cost at my doorstep - lists all the glowing endorsements.

True that many of these, including one particularly distressing testimonial attributed to former president Abdul Kalam, may be well past their "best before" date, but the listing is truly impressive and makes one wonder.

"I gain strength from Bapu-ji's sermons," Rishi Prasad quotes former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is too old and frail to shed further light, as saying.

Asaram's little booklet then quotes Narendra Modi (and I reproduce verbatim): "Pujya Bapuji! Manav-kalyan ke is ke is tapascharya-yagya mein jo sanskar ki divya jyoti pragat hui hai, uske prakash mein mai aur Janata - sab chalet hain."

Wow! I cannot admittedly even begin to translate that exactly (so I won't even try), but something makes me want to cross my fingers that this one is really well past the "best before" date.

Who could possibly match up to that, allegedly by NaMo… you want to know? Oh well… okay.

Gulzari Lal Nanda? Hey wait! That is PM number four if you want to count Chandra Shekhar who allegedly told Asaram that the rashtra (nation) owed him a debt.

The new Rishi Prasad is clearly picking and choosing. I remember earlier ashram publications that mainly included key ruling men from UPA 1 and 2.

Kapil Sibal clearly no longer counts. There's a more current and much more "happening" list.

The Asaram mag has pictures of home minister Rajnath Singh - an old faithful; Nitin Gadkari from chubbier times; Uma Bharati before the Ganga became sullied; LK Advani before he was "kicked upstairs"; Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel with curiously Caesar-like laurels about her crown; an unusually supplicant MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan; Vasundhara Raje trying to hold her own; even Punjab's own proud Jat-Sikh CM Parkash Singh Badal sitting as if he were in a local shrine.

I wish I could show you all the pictures. Oh! so maybe that's the trick. All of you will subscribe to Rishi Prasad. To be fair, it is available online too.

But what's with the chief executive? Rishi Prasad claims this of President of India: "Bharat ke Rashtrapati shri Pranab Mukherjee ko yeh jaan kar hardik prasannta hui hai ki Bharat ke punha vishvaguru banana hetu vaishvik star par prativarsh 14 February ko 'matra-pitra pujan' abhiyaan chalayaga jaayega."

Really? For god's sake, think about the PM in Silicon Valley!