Bhopal, April 12: With a smart phone in his hand and ‘kalasha’ on his head, Computer baba on Wednesday morning performed his daily pooja on the roof of his government guest house. Baba performed ‘fire worship’ with ‘kalasha’ on his head, which was emitting smoke. Swami Namdev Tyagi, popularly known as Computer Baba, represents the Digambar Akhada of Indore. He is known as Computer Baba because he claims to have a computer-like brain and a very sharp memory.  The baba keeps himself armed with all the latest gadgets, including Wi-Fi dongles.

The Madhya Pradesh government has accorded Minister of State (MoS) for five religious leaders including Computer Baba. Four other religious leaders who were given the status of MoS are Baba Narmadanand, Baba Hariharanand, Bhaiyyu Maharaj, and Pandit Yogendra Mahant in the state cabinet. On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada River.

Earlier, Computer Baba had threatened the Madhya Pradesh that he would expose an alleged scam in planting of saplings on the banks of the Narmada by taking out 'Narmada Ghotala (scam) Rath Yatra', along with Yogendra Mahant, in every district of Madhya Pradesh from April 1 to May 15. He also demanded action against illegal sand mining. After getting the MoS status, Computer cancelled the by saying that State Government has fulfilled the demand for the creation of a committee to save the Narmada River.

However, the Opposition parties launched a scathing attack on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for playing appeasement politics. Assembly elections are due in the state this year. Congress dubbed the decision as an attempt by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in the society.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 12, 2018 01:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).