Wages of ill-informed
sick society
The sickening
episode of
s e l f - s t y l e d
" g o d m a n "
and rape convict
Gurmeet Ram Rahim
throws up a number
of critical social and
political issues which
ought to
grip the attention of citizens who have
reasons to be concerned about the country's
state of drift in recent years. I am not looking
at these happenings through politico-religious
angularities often indulged in by the
Congress and its UPA allies or the BJP
and its NDA partners.
Nor am I prompted by Hindutva-bashing
which has been the standard practice of a
section of "secular and progressive forces" in
the polity. I wish to look at sensitive issues
revolving around the head of Dera Sacha
Sauda objectively and try to find out how and
why socio-religious matters have been hijacked
by fake holy- men in our society.
The people understand what is what. It hardly matters if the glass is half empty or half full.
What is important in public perception is how deep is our leaders' understanding of socioeconomic
and political complexities of India, that is, Bharat.
The Special CBI Court has pronounced 20
years' sentence to the rape convict. All credit to
the CBI for having come out of its old mindset
of "protecting" the cult leader at the biding of
his political mentors, from NDA-1 to UPA-1
and 2 and now NDA-2. Perhaps, we shall never
know what exactly transpired under different
establishments for 15 years after Sirsa's local
journalist, Ram Chander Chhatrapati who exposed Ram Rahim's dubious activities, was
shot dead in October 2002. No tears are being
shed for Chhatrapati. What a shame!
Is this not the failure of Haryana's leaders
who, instead of looking at his shady acts, were
guided by vote gains from the followers of
high-profile Ram Rahim? The gravity of crimes
of such political leaders is serious. They left the
poor and Dalit of backward areas of Haryana
and Punjab at the mercy of "godmen" who used
the platform of satsang, kirtan and bhajan to
build their own parallel empires.
How could the state authorities allow them
to build a virtual state of their own within the
State with all the luxuries of life and even
private armies? This harsh reality tells us a lot
about the poor quality of personalized governance. The file pictures of such "godmen"
with leaders of different parties tell us how illinformed
and sick our society has become,
notwithstanding the thundering rhetoric of
Narendra Modi about the poor and Digital
India.
Talking about Digital India is fine. But the
moot point is: who will take care of
disprivileged and deprived sections of society
scattered across the country? What about the
promised economic uplift of millions of people
who are still struggling for two square meals,
minimum healthcare for children and their
right to education and good living conditions
even after 71 years of independence?
Haryana has been in focus for the past
several years because of two holy men – Gurmeet Ram Rahim and earlier in 2014
Rampal Singh Jatin. Also, in the headlines
recently has been Haryana's BJP Chief Minister
Ram Lal Khattar who has a fairly good RSS
background. He was pulled up by the judiciary
for his failure to maintain law and order in
Panchkula.
I had a good impression about RSS persons
because of their disciplined approach to
personal and social matters and dedication to
the causes they believe in. However, Chief
Minister Khattar has exposed himself at least
on three occasions as a non-performer. It is a
different matter that he has
publicly expressed
happiness at his
p e r f o r m a n c e !
Knowledgeable persons,
however, think it otherwise.
He is certainly going to
survive as chief minister as
long as he enjoys the
backing of Prime Minister
Modi. Who cares for
ground realities?
The poor and the illiterate are
apparently taken for a ride by
custodians of these deras and
ashrams since they meet their
daily needs for food, shelter and
healthcare. True, some of these
deras in the Punjab-Haryana
region are genuine as they work at
the grassroots to help the poor to
come up in life.
My point is simple: how
could the BJP high command tolerate
inefficient persons in key positions? The BJP
leadership's tragedy is that it is following the
footsteps of the Congress for petty gains. May
I, therefore, legitimately ask: in what way is the
BJP a party with a difference? BJP chief Amit
Shah and Prime Minister Modi have a lot to
answer on this count.
The people understand what is what. It
hardly matters if the glass is half empty or half
full. What is important in public perception is
how deep is our leaders' understanding of
socio-economic and political complexities of
India, that is, Bharat ?
In this grim setting, what is disquieting
is the absence of social reformers. Some
high-profile swamis have either got
themselves commercialized or politicized
under the canopy of yoga power. Nothing
wrong with this, provided they draw
a lakshman rekha between minting
money and commitment to social causes.
The right sort of political dharma actually holds the key to the country's turbulence-free
order and all-round improvement in the quality
of public life. The phenomena of Rampal Singh
Jatin and Gurmeet Ram Rahim are aberrations
in our socio-economic and political
functioning. This must not be used as a tool for
decrying Hinduism and the rich legacy of our
great sages and rishis who have given this
nation the basic greatness and vibrance of
Indian spirit of tolerance and mutual
understanding.
Rampal Singh Jatin's Satlok Ashram and
Gurmeet Ram Rahim's Dera Sacha Sauda are, in
a way, wages of the state's
failures to empower the
poor, the have-nots and
tribals of our society. The
poor system of governance
at the grassroots has
created a fertile ground
for self-styled godmen to
grow in style under the
patronage of the powersthat-
be.
The poor and the
illiterate are apparently
taken for a ride by custodians of these deras
and ashrams since they meet their daily needs
for food, shelter and healthcare. True, some of
these deras in the Punjab-Haryana region are
genuine as they work at the grassroots to
help the poor to come up in life. Some
deras stood up boldly against the militancy in
Punjab. This, however, does not absolve the
ruling establishments of their failures to
uplift the lives of the downtrodden section of
our society.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has
shown rare guts by speaking out boldly on the
Chief Minister's failure to maintain law and
order in Panchkula. Apart from reprimanding
the Haryana government, it has reminded
Narendra Modi that "he is the Prime Minister
not of the BJP, but of India". Be that as it may.
The issues raised by recent disturbing events
have wider dimensions which must be seen in a
larger national framework for creating a just,
humane and egalitarian society that the
country badly needs.