Rationalists doubt claims made for 'Mataji' Prahalad Jani

'Mataji' Prahalad Jani who's supposed to have lived without food or water for 65 years, may have managed to convince quite a few of his feat, but rationalists are dead against believing it. The Gujarat-Mumbai Rationalist Association (GMRA) has said that Jani's claims have never been proven, and no reports of his medical tests have been made public so far.

It is to be noted that Jani was kept under observation for 15 days by the Defense Institute for Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), a research laboratory under Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Sterling hospital in Ahmedabad.

Secretary of GMRA Keeran Trivedi said in a press release that Jani's claims have never been substantiated, and that such baseless superstitious claims should not be fuelled further. The release says, "We rationalists have challenged Jani's claims in the past as well. US-based rationalist Deepak Patel had offered to get Jani checked in the US, but he has not responded. At regular intervals, drama is created about Jani's alleged abilities, but the reports of his medical examinations are never made public. Morever, the team of doctors is always the same, as is the hospital."

GMRA has demanded a clarification from the media and experts associated with Jani's latest medical examination, saying that such medical examinations should be conducted in government hospitals instead, and in the presence of scientists and rationalists.

The rationalist body has asked neurophysician Dr Sudhir Shah, founder of SRISTI Dr Anil Gupta and director of DIPAS, Dr G Ilavazhagan to clarify their intentions with regards to carrying out the investigation.

However, it is to be noted that Dr Ilavazhagan, the key investigator in Jani's case, has categorically said in their press release that their observation of Jani was of 15 days, and they can't really comment on his claims of having gone without food and water for so many years.

While Prof Gupta is travelling abroad and not reachable, Dr Sudhir Shah said, "The principal investigator in this study was the DIPAS, and these rationalists should ask them. In fact, DIPAS has already clarified about Jani's claim and the study that has been undertaken, in its press release. Our job was to carry out various tests like MRI, sonography, EEG and so on, which our team of doctors did.”