Beliefs, Babas and
betrayals
Raman Mohan
Humans have an
i n s u rmo u n t a b l e
weakness. They have
an innate need to
believe in something
or somebody for that
ever elusive confidence that makes
their lives so much easier. This
weakness gave birth to religions. But
when religions begin to discriminate
or disappoint, the self-styled
godmen step in to exploit the
gullible and build alternatve
institutions with the blood, money
and sweat of their followers. Such
men, women outfits thrive around
the world.
In India, these setups are called
deras or maths or ashrams. In
medieval India, Hinduism had
become a religion of the Brahmins
and for the Brahmins. The
knowledge of Sanskrit was their
exclusive preserve. They had
usurped the right to perform
religious rites. They began to exclude
certain sections of society from the
realms of religion.
Great Social Reformers : Guru Nanak, Kabir,
Ravidas and Surdas
The caste system had divided the
society into the virtuous and the
well-off higher classes and the
untouchables who also happened to
be the poorest. Thus, the Brahmins
were mostly catering to the
privileged lot. The untouchables and the poor were pushed to the fringes.
They had different residential areas
to live in. They were assigned
exclusive wells and ponds to draw
water from. The divide was
complete.
Under these circumstances a
number of great social reformers,
thinkers, saints and poets were born.
They included, Guru Nanak, Kabir,
Ravidas and Surdas to name a few.
They mixed freely with people
ousted from their religions by
Brahmins for all practical purposes.
They sympathised and identified
with these sections. As a result, all of
them became darlings of the socalled
second grade members of the then society. The movements they
began continued to flourish for
about 200 years.
During this period the successors
of these reformers, too, began to
carve out their own individual
identities often on a caste basis.
Several sects emerged with their
own rituals, ceremonies and beliefs.
The masses sidelined by the upper
castes thronged to them for succour,
identity and social acceptance and
even help. These outfits and their
heads emerged as guiding lamps for
the followers who
had been pushed
out of the society
by the arrogant
upper caste
system.
In time these
sects and groups
established their
headquarters in
different parts of
the country where
their devotees
could congregate.
These were the first
deras in India. They
offered followers a
place where they
were not
d i s c r imi n a t e d
against each
other. They could
eat together,
pray together, live
together and
seek the guidance
of the heads that had by then
acquired the status of gurus.
The followers travelled to the
deras together. This created a much-needed kinship between different
downtrodden sections of the society.
Followers of the same deras
established smaller groups in their
villages or group of villages to render
help to each other in times of need.
The more followers a dera
has, the greater its political
clout. No wonder, Ram
Rahim Gurmeet Singh of
Dera Sacha Sauda with
over 40 lakh followers
created a state within a
state where his was the
only writ that ran. With so
many followers his one
diktat could swing the
election in favour of a
party of his choice in close
to 90 assembly
constituencies in Punjab
and Haryana.
All this helped the gurus and their
deras to strengthen their roots.
Deras thus soon emerged as a
counter to established religions and
institutions. Because of the sheer
numbers of the people who had
been pushed to the fringes and who
switched loyalties to them, the deras
and their heads emerged as
powerful leaders of the society.
However, the shackles of caste
could still not be broken. As a result
both the Brahminical arrogance and
the dera following both grew over
the decades. Even after
independence, the caste prejudices
continue to plague the society.
A section of the dalits and the
backward classes has no doubt
benefitted from the reservation
system and flourished, but the
majority remains on the fringes,
especially in the rural society. Thus
the deras have no dearth of willing
men and women ready to be lured to
their fold.
Punjab and Haryana proved to be breeding grounds for followers of
deras and godmen after
independence as the Shiromani
Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
led by the Akalis continued to
practise the same practices as the
Brahmins. The non-Jats among Sikhs
were made to feel unwelcome to the
gurdwaras run by the Jat Sikhs and
their leadership. Even the Sikh clergy
played its part in isolating non-Jats.
This went against the very basic
tenets of the Sikh religion which
proclaimed all humans to have been
born as one, meaning equal.
This was despite the fact that joint
Punjab that included the present
states of Haryana and Himachal
Pradesh had one of the largest
populations of dalits and backward
classes in the country. These
numbers have only gone up with the
growth in population. An
overwhelming majority of
population in both the states
comprises non-Jats. No wonder, the
deras continue to grow in strength.
Joginder Singh Vedanti
Former Akal Takht Jathedar
Joginder Singh Vedanti says people
tend to join deras because it is the
easiest thing to do. It is not
necessary to study the scriptures
and the vaani of the gurus. All you
have to do is entrust the baba with
your worries believing he would take
care of everything. Unfortunately
people do not realise this is not
Sikhism. There is no place for miracles, cures, rituals and godmen
in our religion, he says. (Source:
sikhwiki.org)
He is right. The simplicity of the
dears is a big attraction for the illiterate. There are no rules and
codes to be followed. No
discrimination among followers on a
caste or creed basis. All devotees sit
and eat together sharing the same
space. The only requirements are a
total belief in the baba and treat his
word and whims as law.
As against Sikhism, there is no
ban imposed by deras on cutting
your hair. It is entirely a matter of
personal choice there. But Sikh
devotees need to sport long hair.
This simplicity and lack of formalities
makes for an easy entry to the deras.
The dera heads are gurus to their
followers. This is what brings the
deras in conflict with the Sikhs. The
Sikhs do not believe in a human
guru. Post Guru Gobind Singh, Guru
Granth Sahib is the Guru. But most
deras in Punjab and Haryana do not
have gurdwaras with Guru Granth
Sahib in residence. They also do not
adhere to the Rehat Maryada.
It is estimated, unofficially, of
course, that there are around 9000
deras in Punjab and Haryana. There
is big money involved. About 80 per
cent of the population in Punjab and
Haryana follow one dera or another
and thus these deras corner a huge
portion of the religious donations
made by the followers. This gives
these setups their money power. The
human numbers give them the
muscle power. Both put together
give the deras their political clout.
Dr J. S. Ahluwalia, a noted Sikh
scholar, has been quoted in
sikhwiki.org as saying that this has
become a racket now. Many of the
persons who bagged contracts from
the SGPC for kar seva collected huge
sums of money, bought expensive
cars and set up their own deras.
Many of the deras are now being run
by these very same kar seva babas
who have assumed cult status as
godmen of sorts, he is quoted as
saying.
But this is not to say that all deras
are dubious and all babas are
fraudsters. There are many deras
that have been doing great social
work without coming into conflict with the Sikh institutions or other
Hindu religious institutions. Radha
Swami Satsang ,Beas and Sant Kirpal
Ruhani Mission are two examples.
But even these two institutions have
huge property and wealth which,
their devotees maintain, are utilised
for social work. There have been no
instances of such deras using their
clout in the political arena.
But a vast majority of them are
openly indulging in politics. Illiteracy,
money power, caste prejudices
and armies of blind followers make
for a heady mix that drives the
babas towards politics because that
is what gives them immunity
from law, a cover for their
nefarious activities and easier and more means of making money.
The more followers a dera has,
the greater its political clout. No
wonder, Ram Rahim Gurmeet Singh
of Dera Sacha Sauda with over 40
lakh followers created a state within
a state where his was the only writ
that ran. With so many followers his
one diktat could swing the election in
favour of a party of his choice in
close to 90 assembly constituencies
in Punjab and Haryana.
No surprise then that despite
outwardly opposing the dera and its
head, all political parties and their
leaders, including the Badals, the BJP
and Congress leaders have always
tried to keep the Baba in good
humour. The Baba always supported different parties at different times
and managed to derive favours from
all of them without so much as
conveying to them what he wanted.
When money and dirty politics get
together crime is never far behind.
This has been proved time and
again. The most recent examples
being that of Bapu Asaram and Ram
Rahim Gurmeet Singh of Sacha
Sauda. Both the self professed
godmen are behind bars. This gives
enough reason to logical minds to
realise the true worth of the babas
and deras. But, unfortunately, no
lessons seem to have been learnt in
the past. No lesson seems to have
been learnt now.
How money & politics killed
'Sacha Sauda' spirit
Ram Rahim Singh
Dera Sacha Sauda literally
means the place where truth
prevails. For close to four
decades, the place lived up to its name. But, then under it turned out
that under its recently jailed head
Ram Rahim Singh, the dera had
been living up to its name in a
rather distorted, warped and
twisted way. Truth never prevailed
here in his reign. Rather truth was traded like a commodity in a mandi.
Truth was not the only
commodity traded within the
precincts of the vast sandy
expanses of the dera. Everything
and everyone was a commodity and
nothing more than that for the fun
loving, queerly dressed ageing selfprofessed
baba. The young girls
brought to the dera by gullible
illiterate parents for spiritual
guidance were abused at their place of stay innocuously named as
Sadhvi Hostel. The baba had a
tunnel linking his living quarters
with this hostel.
As if the millions that came by
way of donations from the dalit,
backward and the poorest of the
society were not enough, the baba
established a flourishing trading
business which succeeded instantly
as lakhs of baba's supporters
became customers overnight.
Gurmeet Singh's secret tunnel connects to sadhvis' hostel
The
free food served at the majlis
(congregation) gave way to paid
canteens strewn all over national and state highways throughout
Punjab and Haryana. Lands were
forcibly occupied or bought at
throwaway prices through coercion.
But that was not the path the
dera founder Shah Mastana ji had
intended this institution to take. Not
much is known about his early life, but, he was born with a spiritual
bent of mind. As he grew up he took
it upon himself to tour the Bagar
area (Sirsa and its neighbouring
desert areas of Punjab and
Rajasthan) to bring peace to
peoples' lives. He established his
headquarters several years later on
the outskirts of Sirsa town. He laid
the foundation of the dera on April
29, 1948 after peace was restored in the region following partition. The
pangs of partition had created an
environment conducive for the dera
to grow rapidly.
Shah Satnam ji succeeded Shah
Mastana in 1960. He soon became
very popular in the area and it was
during his reign that the dera really became a large institution with
followers spread all over Punjab,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and
some pockets of Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra also. The dera
website claims he was instrumental
in raising the number of dera
followers by 11 lakh. Shah Satnam ji "reincarnated himself into the
human body of present Guru ji Saint
Dr Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji
Insan and passed the divine light to
Him", the website has recorded.
The baba was born to Maghar
Singh a wealthy landlord and Jat
Sikh in a remote hamlet of western
Rajasthan on August 15, 1967.
Maghar Singh was a devotee of
Satnam. The dera officials claim his
parents were blessed with this child
with the blessings of Satnam. The
child named by his parents as
Gurmeet accompanied his father to
the dera very often.
After a few years, Gurmeet began
to live in the dera and performed
odd jobs like sowing the fields and
driving the tractors. He had a friend
from his native village called
Gurjant Singh. Gurjant avenged the
Gurmeet built himself an
underground residence
with a cave theme where
he led a life of absolute
luxury. He had hundreds
of luxury SUVs to travel
and hundreds of women
in his virtual harem.
In the meantime the
number of followers of the
dera grew to around 40
lakh. The baba used the
numerical strength to his
advantage by using it as a
political tool.
murder of his uncle and was jailed.
He was radicalised in jail and
became a terrorist. His exploits as
an extremist soon made him
notorious. He was later shot dead
by the Punjab police in an
encounter in Mohali.
It is alleged that Gurjant used to
seek shelter in the dera with
Gurmeet. It came as surprise to the
followers when out of the blue Shah
Satnam announced that Gurmeet, then only 23, would succeed him. It
was alleged at that time that Shah
Satnam was forced to anoint
Gurmeet at gun point, though no
proof of the coercion exists.
The new baba soon began to
commercialise every activity of the
dera. Markets financed by the baba
and patronised by the followers
sprang up around the dera. Land
surrounding the dear was quickly
purchased often by coercing the
farmers by directing followers to
damage standing crops in the
neighbouring fields while coming
for the majlis at the dera.
The number of women sadhvis
residing in the dera began to grow.
Gurmeet built himself an
underground residence with a cave
theme where he led a life of
absolute luxury. He had hundreds
of luxury SUVs to travel and hundreds of women in his virtual
harem.
In the meantime, the number of
followers of the dera grew to
around 40 lakh. The baba used the
numerical strength to his advantage
by using it as a political tool. He
proved to be an astute political
mind and backed the party which
was likely to win and extracting his
pound of flesh.
Politicians of every party
thronged to him to seek his
blessings (read votes). He used his
political muscle to break every law
of the land. He became so fearless
that he openly indulged in illegal
activities with impunity.
Soon word of his nefarious
activities began to filter out of the
dera. This led to some bad press.
The baba was quick to silence these
voices and also of those who posed threat to him and his existence. A
journalist was shot dead so was one
of his former aides. Cases were
registered against him. Then word
of his sexual exploitation also
leaked out. Two sadhvis levelled
allegations of rape against him
which led to his conviction.
The baba remained defiant to the
end. Even from inside the
courtroom where he was sentenced
to 10 years of jail in each case of
rape, he had his minions instigate
his followers to indulge in violence.
His sentencing claimed 40 odd lives.
Yet, not many believe that it is
end of the road for the dera.
Sooner or later, one of the dera's
top men or women will ultimately
take over. But for the moment,
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan
seems stuck in a blind alley in
Rohtak's new Sunaria Jail.