Deras and politics go hand-in-hand in Punjab and Haryana

JALANDHAR: Tacit support for political gains by leaders and parties has helped deras in the region to flourish. Political parties and leaders, especially those in power, have wooed the dera heads for getting votes of their followers and avoided direct confrontation with the sects or their chiefs in case they get involved in any case or conflicts.
Influence of Satlok Ashram head Rampal, who has been defying the high court orders for the past few weeks, has already been demonstrated with thousands of his followers trying to "defend" him and some even losing their lives to prevent the police from reaching him to execute non-bailable arrest warrants.Wary of backlash from the dera followers, the BJP government in Haryana remained a bystander in the police-Satlok Ashram standoff.
The controversy points to a symbiotic relationship between politicians and deras who help each other to grow as these sects hold complete sway over the minds of their followers.
If deras parade the visit of politicians to exhibit their influence, the latter tend to use this as an easy way to get thousands or lakhs of votes of the followers who listen to their spiritual gurus' words.
A day before the Haryana police launched the operation to arrest Rampal, Khap leaders from BJP - Shamsher Singh Kharkara and Balraj Kundu - had negotiated with the emissaries of the Satlok Ashram to resolve the issue. Before Rampal started hitting headlines, it was another dera from Haryana which was in the spotlight entirely due to political reasons.
Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda was in the news for supporting BJP openly in the Haryana assembly polls. Later, senior BJP leaders, including its Haryana elections in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya, visited the dera to express their gratitude to the sect head Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
Championing the cause of Dera Sacha Sauda and Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan in Nurmahal, BJP secretary Tarun Chugh has written to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday urging him to take strict action against "anti-social elements" who are threatening and attacking followers of deras. He has cited a recent instance of the clash between Sirsa dera followers and some Sikh activists in Mehmudwala village near Zira town of Ferozepur. Chugh has mentioned in the letter Sikh radicals resorted to violence and intimidated the dera followers with sharp-edged weapons and firearms.
Chugh also wrote to the CM that followers of Sirsa dera, DJJS and other sects were under constant threat and they had faced attacks several times and their followers were living under fear.
As alliances between political parties keep on changing, similar pattern is noticeable in the association among political groups and deras. Before BJP, it was Congress which had benefitted from Sirsa dera head's directive in Punjab in the 2007 assembly polls.
While Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was booked for hurting religious sentiments in May 2007 during the SAD-BJP rule for hurting religious sentiments after he allegedly imitated Guru Gobind Singh, before the 2012 assembly elections Punjab police filed a cancellation report in the court following which the case against him was dismissed in August, 2014.
Former deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Punjab CM Badal had visited Radha Soami Satsang (Beas), which is the largest in terms of followers and landholding, recently even as its head Gurinder Singh Dhillon has not been taking sides with any party. Beas dera head Dhillon had a meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat a few weeks ago. At the same time, he seems to be having cordial relations with radical Sikh leaders like Simranjit Singh Mann of SAD (Amritsar) and Baljit Singh Daduwal and visited their places to meet them.