It’s been four days of the Dera Sacha Sauda chaos; the BJP government in Haryana led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar relied on lies, half-truths and mystery to defend itself in the face of the mayhem which left minimum 40 people dead and hundreds injured. This fraudster who calls himself a baba, is the only child of his parents, Ram Rahim was born on August 15, 1967 in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan. His father was a follower of Shah SatnamJi, the second chief of Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) group. In 1990, Satnam declared Ram Rahim as his successor. This is how he became third chief of DSS, a group founded in 1948, by a man – Beparawah Mastana Ji Maharaj. The Dera chief, who completed his high school, is married to Harjeet Kaur. They have two daughters, Charanpreet and Amanpreet, both of whom are married, and a son Jasmeet. Ever since he became so called spiritual leader, he kept growing by all aspects. He perhaps might have thought that the courts will never punish him.
Rockstar Baba Gurmeet is believed to be in close association with the militant Gurjant Singh Rajasthani of the much feared Khalistan Liberation Force. When the CBI charged Dera chief, he had around 130 female volunteers. Eighteen had left the Dera due to mysterious reasons. When questioned two out of eighteen confessed that they were raped, others were frightened to reveal anything as they claimed that there are dangerous people behind Dera and they will harm them. Soon, an editor of the Sirsa based newspaper – Poora Sanch was murdered when the paper published a report which mentioned all the illegal activities carried out in the Dera. He forced around 400 men followers to castrate themselves in order to make them his slaves. One of the castrated men moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2012 where the case is under trial. The man who filed the case was his follower for 14 years. This Baba has many hullabaloos to his credit. Rape, murders, land grabbing to misleading his followers.
The politicians always sheltered him for the vote bank, he has many followers and he can fetch big chunk of votes for the party and politician, in such circumstances no politicians wants to compromise the favours that they were receiving. Today girls are not safe in our country and we are giving Z+ plus security to such termites that have already made the system hollow enough. Ram Rahim’s takeover ushered in a new era for the Dera, an otherwise humble sect, founded in 1948. Enjoying cross-party political favour, the Dera today claims a following in millions. Apart from several industries that are exempted from paying taxes, the Dera controls over 700 acres in Sirsa alone, the land allegedly stolen from villagers.
Finally the brave lady who exposed Baba delivered some justice. There are many cases against him but his political sources were guarding him so far, kudos to CBI officers who fearlessly investigated the case by bringing out the truth and thanks to judiciary to convict him. Court should actually hang Ram Rahim till death in open as a token of implementation of strict law and order. This will prove that nobody is greater than law. There should be clear orders of shoot at site to police and military forces. Supporters are the main culprits who actually help such personalities to become big and give them opportunity to do these kinds of sins without fear.
The guru, who had denied the charges of raping the two women at his ashram in 2002, was flown by helicopter to a jail in the nearby town of Rohtak because district officials feared they would be overrun by his supporters. Whatever incidents had happened in Haryana was uncalled for. So much violence was not needed for a rapist. The fact that the masses riot after a guru is legally found guilty shows the utter lack of respect for the law in India. Perhaps these idiot followers cannot face the truth – which they followed a con man, a common occurrence in a land where people flock to shyster politicians and pundits who tell them what they want to hear. Their behaviour shows that India is more of a mobocracy than the democracy. All rioters must be dealt with firmly.
What is the big deal in convicting this Holy Rapist? All these convicts enjoy much more privileges than the common convicts, but blind followers cannot find flaws in their preachers. Look at the irony, Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the Haryana administration to make arrangements to take CBI judge Jagdeep Singh and two of his staff members to the Rohtak district jail by air for pronouncing the quantum of sentence against Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Anyways, Singh is known for political clout, as his Dera has a large number of followers among Dalits and Other Backward Classes. His Dera Sacha Sauda is the only one among the various Deras that openly asks its supporters to vote for particular political parties. Singh originally supported the Indian National Congress. Singh’s son is married to the daughter of the Congress leader Harminder Singh Jassi. The Dera Sacha Sauda supported Congress in the 2007 Punjab state elections, and helped the party take control of the Malwa region. Before the 2012 Punjab state elections, the Congress leader Amarinder Singh visited Gurmeet, asking him to extend his support to Congress. However, Dera’s support to Congress alienated the party’s Sikh vote bank.
Before the 2014 Haryana state elections, Narendra Modi praised Singh in order to attract the Dera Sacha Sauda followers. Singh supported the BJP in the state elections, thus helping BJP form a non-coalition government in the state for the first time. In February 2015, his organisation openly supported BJP in Delhi elections, saying that he has over 2 million followers in the state. His organization supported BJP in the Bihar assembly election in 2015, and nearly 3,000 Dera followers campaigned for BJP in the state. In 2016, the Haryana sports minister Anil Vij announced a ₹ 5 million grant to the Dera for promoting sports, in Singh’s presence, leading to a controversy. Baba any how got convicted but I hope the sentence would be harsher. otherwise this entire drill to get him convicted may look like an eye wash.
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