While children in other countries are busy coding apps, playing sports, or preparing for universities, in India, some are being paraded as miniature babas — saffron robes instead of school uniforms, chanting mantras instead of doing math homework. In tier-2 and tier-3 cities, this disturbing trend has exploded. Instead of outrage, we see politicians lining up to garland them. Recently, one such “child baba” even received an award from nitin gadkari as “India’s youngest spiritual orator.” In any developed country, social services would arrest the parents. In India, we clap.
1. Childhood Traded for Clout
A child belongs in classrooms, playgrounds, and science labs. But in India, childhood is traded for saffron robes, made to memorize scriptures, and drilled in oratory to become the next “viral baba.” This isn’t spirituality. This is exploitation, wrapped in incense smoke.
2. Religion Has Become a Joke, A Reality Show
The idea of religion as a path to truth and inner growth has been reduced to theatrics. Young children on thrones, audiences cheering, whatsapp forwards branding them as “divine prodigies.” Faith is no longer sacred — it’s content.
3. Awards Instead of Accountability
Instead of asking why a 10-year-old is running a “spiritual business,” ministers hand out trophies. Imagine the global embarrassment: a child godman being celebrated by the state. In developed societies, this would trigger child welfare investigations. In India, it triggers photo-ops.
4. The New Start-Up Culture: religion as Business
Make no mistake — this is not devotion, it’s a business model. parents become managers. Devotees become customers. Donations fuel the “enterprise.” Politicians act as investors, securing vote banks through endorsements. What we’re seeing isn’t faith. It’s a religious start-up ecosystem — with child CEOs front and center.
5. The Cost: A Nation That Cannot Grow Up
When kids are turned into babas, what message does it send? That blind faith is more valuable than science, superstition better than education, and theatrics greater than truth. India’s future is being sacrificed at the altar of medieval thinking. Instead of building innovators and thinkers, we’re manufacturing spiritual mascots for profit.
⚡ Bottom Line:
India’s religion is no longer about philosophy or truth — it’s a circus. The rise of child babas is not innocent; it’s exploitation. It’s not spirituality, it’s commerce. And every time a minister garlands a child godman, the nation drifts further into the abyss where blind faith is currency, and reason is bankrupt.
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