The dust over Dera Sucha Sauda issue is beginning to settle down, but not without many questions remaining unanswered. After two weeks of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh bashing, the government has successfully managed to divert public attention from the violence that rocked Panchkula and Sirsa, claiming over 40 lives, to the misdoings of the dera chief and separating the “evil” dera chief from the “philanthropic” dera.
Barring a few exceptions, the government has not been able to find much wrongdoing on the 700-acre dera premises except some tunnels leading from the dera chief’s Gufa (residence) to the hostel that was home to numerous sadhvis. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has now moved a step further from his “conspiracy theory” of “planned escape” to the role of Punjab Police commandos behind such a move.
The statement of the Chief Minister during an interview on a television channel has “explosive” potential with regard to the inter-state relationship between neighbours Punjab and Haryana, that are locked in a fierce legal battle on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue. It is perhaps a well-thought-out attempt of the state government to divert attention from fixing responsibility for the loss of human lives to a politically sensitive issue.
Coming back to the pre-conviction period of the dera chief, i.e. August 25, there are still no answers as to why the government allowed thousands of dera followers to gather in Panchkula. Dera followers were provided “langar” and other amenities to make them comfortable. But at the same time, intelligence as well as other security agencies failed to identify “mischievous” dera activists from benign followers.
The government claims that it managed the situation with minimum damage, which means 36 lives lost in Panchkula alone, and that too after a strict warning by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to maintain law and order at all costs. Has any responsibility been fixed for the lapses, except action on a police officer for bungling in issuing the order under Section 144 of the CrPC, which the state’s own Cabinet minister earlier justified?
There was active connivance of the government with the dera prior to the conviction, as is apparent from the manner in which the situation was handled using kid gloves. But what is most shocking is that even after a thorough search, security agencies have not been able to recover anything significant from the dera. There are hundreds of eyewitnesses who allege that truckloads of stuff was moved out of the dera on the evening of August 25 and 26.
The Army reached the gates of the dera on August 26, but the government waited for two weeks, till August 8, to enter it. By this time, there was nothing to be found. Asked if cash and other valuable were removed from the dera, the Chief Minister today admitted that the government allowed people to leave the dera with their belongings without being checked.
The dera claims a following of 5 crore. Each dera follower is directed to contribute Re 1 per day to the dera, which itself amounts to an income in cash of around Rs 5 crore per day, besides other donations and collections. The last movie of the dera chief, “Jattu Engineer”, has done business worth Rs 522 crore in 51 days as per dera claims. Is it possible that a dera with cash collections running into several crores each day had no money when the searches were conducted?
The explanation is simple. Had the security agencies recovered huge amounts of money or other objectionable material, it would have been very awkward for the BJP government, which had come to power with the support of dera votes. It is public knowledge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly praised the dera during a rally in Sirsa. Also, a senior party leader had gone with 31 BJP MLAs to pay obeisance to the dera chief. Most Haryana Cabinet ministers can be seen on video bowing before Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. So, it was important for the BJP to separate the dera from the dera chief.
The dera separate from the dera chief is thus an obvious stand, but people have seen soft-pedalling by the BJP on issues concerning the dera. It now remains to be seen how the High Court will implement its order of asking the government to get the dera pay for the damage to life and property.
