The notions of astrology – be it Hindu astrology or that being practised in the west - are false as they have no basis in reality. Astrology has so far not been able to predict anything correctly: no astrologer in the world could predict clearly and accurately the September 2001 terror attacks on the US, or the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. None warned us in advance of great natural disasters like the tsunami which devastated vast areas of our planet and killed several hundreds of thousands of people. Nor did they warn us about human-made disasters like the partition of India, which led to half a million deaths, or the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, John F Kennedy etc.

Despite this singular lack of success and complete lack of credibility, astrologers still claim that astrology is a science and sadly, in India, many public personalities, including politicians, patronise them. Such is the power of the ignorance their trade is based on, that these purveyors of superstitions have influenced even universities to introduce astrology as a subject, and have thus obtained institutional backing to their fraud.

Since astrology seems to have a particularly potent effect on both politicians and political parties, IHEU deemed it topical to challenge these beliefs during the biggest show in India, the General Elections.

Here I’ll give a small background to astrology’s vice-like grip over public affairs in India. A leading Dravidian political party from South India, the AIADMK, made examining horoscopes of prospective candidates an integral part of the process to select candidates. Almost all candidates for the elections chose auspicious times prescribed by astrologers for filing of nominations. And the leader of this political party even changed her name as per advice given to her by astrologers!

Every political party except the Lok Satta, headed by a Humanist, and the Communist Parties, has court astrologers. Everyone today depends on astrology, numerology and vaastu to win elections. The politicians appeal more to the Gods and to the planets, than to the people!

Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire?

To prove that astrology is a giant hoax, the Indian members of the IHEU, Manava Vikasa Vedika (Human Development Forum), Indian Radical Humanist Association, Hyderabad, Rationalist Forum and their kindred organisations, the science popularisation group, Jana Vignana Vedika, and the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, under the auspices of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, extended a challenge to astrologers and other purveyors of superstition to use their divine powers or the tools of astrology to accurately predict the election results. Here was a chance for astrologers to prove their oft repeated claim that astrology is a science, and they could also pick up a cash reward of Rupees ten million or USD 200,000 by predicting accurately the results of the elections within the limits of experimental error. The challenge was titled Kaun Banega Karodpati, after the very popular Indian version of UK's TV show Who Wants to Be A Millionnaire?

I launched the challenge in the offices of Jana Vignana Vedika at a media conference attended by leaders of our member groups. There were 27 questions posed to the astrologers relating to the results of the election. The astrologers were asked to predict the names of the next Prime Minister of India, the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, the exact names of political parties which would form the Central government in New Delhi, and the exact number of seats some specified political parties would get in Parliament. Apart from the astrologer community in general, the questions were specially directed towards the Astrology Department of the Telugu University. Answers had to be given in a sealed cover to be delivered to us before the vote counting began, along with a Rs.10 000 security deposit to avoid frivolous entries. The sealed covers were to be opened in front of the media after the elections.

To win, at least 22 of the 27 questions had to be answered correctly, and the winner with the highest score crossing 22 correct answers would be able to take home ten million rupees and of course, their initial deposit. The office of Jana Vignana Vedika in Chintalbasti was named as the place to deliver the answers.

The aim of the challenge was to once again invite all in society to examine the truth claims of astrology, and to evaluate for themselves if in a modern society there is a place for those who deceive others on the basis of outdated notions about the universe.

Our challenge received the widest publicity ever hoped for by us: TV 9 with the highest TRP ratings carried this news as the breaking news, giving unedited coverage for more than 5 minutes to the challenge at midday; immediately following it up by top news coverage in the one-o-clock afternoon news, placing it ahead of even national political events! The news was repeated prominently till late night that day, while other channels too picked up the story in a big way, starting with breaking news and going on to give wide coverage. Local TV (C Channel) immediately came forward to partner in the challenge and offered its own offices state-wide as places where astrologers could deposit their responses. Local TV shot a special promo with me giving out the challenge and this was broadcast throughout the day several times. Another channel, Studio N, invited me and Jana Vignana Vedika’s T.V. Rao to issue the same challenge from their studios as well. Zee News sought out astrologers who were willing to take up the challenge, while TV 9 spoke to two prominent representatives of the astrologer community.

Interestingly, well-known astrologer Srinivasa Gargeya refused to answer the questions of rationalists and claimed that his answering these questions would be an insult to astrology! Another astrologer, Srinivasa Sarma, added the insight that astrology was not enough to predict the future, they would have to examine the Yogas (destinies) of the individuals concerned - because without Maha Yoga no one could hold the reins of power.

The INews program also called up senior astrologer Madura Krishnamurthy who, looking impressive both due to age and due to his half naked body as he seemed to be doing a penance, predicted after a complex but laughable analysis of planets, their positions and their movement, that there would be no single party rule either at the state level or at the central level. All three seemed to agree that there were no prospects of a stable rule for the next three years. We learnt in this program that factors that influence winning or losing an election were also the time when a political party was established, the time when election nominations were filed, and what the position of the stars on that particular day was.

Meanwhile, in Studio N, ‘astro-journalists’ ‘Prof.’ Murthy and Krishna Mohan challenged T.V. Rao and me on live TV, claiming that they were not after the prize money, that they would accept just one rupee as winning prize, and that if their predictions proved correct they would ask rationalists to stop troubling them and retire from public life. They warned that from now on 'they would chase Babu Gogineni wherever he was to expose the claims of rationalists that astrology was false'. They offered to abandon astrology if their predictions proved false.

In fact all their predictions were wrong, both at the Central and State election levels.

The Results

Some days after the election results, once their mobile phones were switched on, Studio N tracked these great astrologers again and they apologised to me for what they had said on TV. Studio N, which claims a viewership of half-million people, produced a special program 'Their Astrology is a Joke'. When asked if they would honour their word to abandon astrology, one of them said calmly that they would stop public predictions but that they would practice astrology privately. When asked if this was not contrary to what they themselves offered, the response we got was “Doctors do not stop their practice just because one operation failed”.

The Final Answer

All the lies and deceptions of the astrologers, a sample of which are recorded above, were exposed at a second press conference organised by us when the sealed covers were opened.

How many covers did we receive from the MGK Foundation or P.V. Reddy or the others who swear by their ‘science’?

ZERO.

Not even one entry was received either at JVV office or at local TV offices. The boastful heroes on TV9 never sent in any entries for the contest! The court astrologers for the political parties were nowhere to be seen!

Crawling out of the Woodwork

The next chance for the astrologers to come back on television was when in June and July the powerful and much feared Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, since deceased Rajasekhar Reddy, declared that the state Government was organising prayers for rain. The full force of the state machinery was deployed to offer prayers to the Hindu god of rain Varuna, and even mosques and churches were asked to organise similar prayers. At each of the hundreds of temples where the prayers were organised, thousands of pots of milk were poured into sacrificial fires to appease the rain god to show mercy on a state which was ruled by a Christian Chief Minister who promised 'God's Rule' in the state. Not to be outdone was the Department of Culture, which organised a special musical event to invoke the rain god – after all, did the famous Tansen (court musician of Mughal emperor Akbar) not bring rains in medieval India through his mellifluous music? Why couldn’t that experiment be replicated in modern times?

So when NTV organised its popular show Second Opinion on the subject of the magical powers of music, I challenged the two famous musicians present in the show to demonstrate their powers by making it rain in the studio. The musicians accepted, but it was a full 30 days before the delayed monsoon showed any real mercy on the state. In other interviews, TV Rao, Ramesh and I asked government officials who were implementing the government orders whether they were appointed to serve as priests or as administrators.

The Eclipse of Reason

The next and greatest challenge to the scientific point of view was when three eclipses occurred on the Indian sub-continent within a span of 30 days. A total solar eclipse sandwiched between two lunar eclipses is a most negative thing. This celestial event will bring us a tsunami, said one astrologer. A world war, screamed another. 'The First World War was started because of three eclipses in a row within 30 days, and the same was what caused the Second World War', declared a representative of The Art of Living, the hugely popular organisation which counts amongst its clients some of the top corporates in India, and whose leader, Sri Sri Ravishankar, has been spotted in Oslo and in Stockholm, lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize. They even published a book about the eclipse and the disasters that it will bring.

I challenged this claim on the Hindi news channel, Zee News. 'The Second World War was a result of the First World War, not because of an eclipse. And the First World War started in 1914, whereas the eclipse was in 1919. How can they be linked? And the last time there was a tsunami there were no eclipses. Shouldn’t we file a police complaint against these fraudsters for spreading rumours and deliberately frightening people?' This same argument was repeated in umpteen channels which were discussing the eclipses. Another myth accompanying the eclipses was: 'There are special rays that are emitted that science does not know of, which affect pregnant women. They should remain indoors and not harm their foetuses'.

'You are mistaken in your analysis, Mr. Gogineni. You have to consider that the human body is made of 75% water and water is affected by gravitational pull. Look at the tides in the sea' said Srinivasa Gargeya who had previously called Rationalists 'poisonous worms'. Such baseless claims were easily refuted by us.

The debates rationalists participate in are meant more to educate the viewers rather than merely defeat the silly astrologer. The top channels all claim viewership of one million each and it is these viewers that rationalists are educating by participating in TV debates.

In Hyderabad, Jana Vignana Vedika, Manava Vikasa Vedika and Centre for Inquiry Hyderabad organised an eclipse breakfast party on Total Solar Eclipse day on 22 July, as did the Dalits in the 20 Dalit villages where IHEU is supporting Humanist Centres for Social Change. These events received great media publicity because by cooking and eating during the morning eclipse Humanists were breaking and challenging the traditional taboos – just like Gora and Saraswati Gora did 50 years ago. TV Channels came with their OB vans and broadcast the breakfast events and live interviews with Dr. Innaiah, Mr. Sukhadev and others. I was in North India in the holy town of Ujjain, where I was interviewed by half a dozen TV channels.

'You have to come to the studio right away, sir. An earthquake has been reported in Indonesia and a tsunami is feared. The astrologers are claiming they are right and that science could not predict this'. That morning the TV channel pitted Dr. Prasad, a geologist from the National Geographical Research Institute, and me against Gargeya and Srinivas, two astrologers, in a live TV discussion that lasted nearly 2 hours. 'But are there not nearly a million earthquakes every year, most of them rather small ones', I asked. 'And Indonesia had no eclipse so why did the earthquake happen there? There are some 17 earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above every year. So anyone could predict an earthquake and see that happen somewhere on the earth within 90 days. What is so special about astrology?' This was not what they expected and with authority, Dr. Prasad explained the difference between prediction in science and predictions of the kind the astrologers were claiming.

One Prediction

One prediction that Rationalists and Humanists can safely make is that these debates will continue. India is being bled and weakened by the purveyors of superstition and it is the duty of all Humanists to confront ignorance and to defeat those making a business out of banking on people's gullibility. And with the new energy and the new tactics that Humanists have demonstrated, it is obvious that in a short while they will be able to build a formidable opposition to the claims being made in the name of astrology. The last few months have seen many victories for the scientific point of view, but we have to prepare already for the next spectacular celestial event – the annular solar eclipse that will cross South India on 15 January 2010.

Babu Gogineni is International Director of IHEU. Starting in May 2009, he was involved in a series of well publicised television challenges and debates with astrologers, numerologists, 'astro-psychologists' and Government legal advisers. These encounters gave him and his colleagues an opportunity to debate ideas and public policy, expose pseudo-science and superstition, and helped raise awareness for the Humanist and Rationalist point of view.– Ed.