(Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj) The story behind this trend in Social Media today
02-10-2026
The social media activity around Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj on 2 October 2026 is driven mainly by his followers promoting an event they call a historic scriptural debate, set for the evenings of 3 and 4 October on Sadhna TV (and related online streams), starting around 7:30 pm.In late September he issued an open challenge to Hindu religious leaders, scholars, and heads of mathas. He said that if anyone could show, from standard texts such as the four Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the 18 Puranas, the Valmiki Ramayana, the Ramcharitmanas, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata, that his interpretation of those scriptures is wrong, he would pay that person 50 lakh rupees in cash. Followers have been posting the hashtag tied to “one day to go,” short videos titled along the lines of a “call to scriptural debate,” and claims that the public will judge the outcome. The challenge itself was reported by several Hindi news outlets in Haryana around 23 September.Rampal, originally a junior engineer in the Haryana irrigation department, left government service in the mid-1990s after contact with a Kabir-panthi teacher and began teaching as the head of Satlok Ashram. His followers treat his discourses as the correct reading of the scriptures and describe social-service drives (free vegetarian meals under an “Annapurna” effort, including recent flood relief in Nepal, and fodder supplies to cow shelters) as part of the same mission.He spent roughly eleven and a half years in custody after a 2014 police attempt to arrest him at the Barwala ashram in Hisar led to clashes in which several people died. He was later convicted in related cases; the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail in the remaining sedition-linked matter in April 2026, citing age and the length of detention, and he was released on 10 April. Earlier ashrams at Karontha and Barwala had been attached after violence. Since his release he has resumed public satsangs, and followers have circulated images of him meeting devotees, including from an air-conditioned glass enclosure.Separate recent reports note fresh controversy at a Dhanana (Sonipat) centre, including the arrest of a sewadar after an allegation of sexual assault on a minor, and local protests linked to his books and statements. The current wave of posts is overwhelmingly from supporters advertising the 3–4 October broadcasts and the 50-lakh offer rather than from independent coverage of a confirmed opponent accepting the debate.