Malwa waits for command of the dera

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

Political parties in the Malwa region of Punjab are waiting with bated breath. Cutting across all divide, they are awaiting the instructions of a non-political organisation to its followers to swing the fortunes in their favour.

Dera Sacha Sauda, headed by Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim, has such a political clout and influence in the Malwa belt that the political parties have been forced to run to its headquarters in Haryana’s in Sirsa district, to get a favourable response and instructions issued in their favour. So far the Dera has kept its cards close to its chest and has not revealed which party or candidate it would support in the January 30 polls for the state legislative Assembly.

Be it Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress or the BJP – top leaders of all of them have visited Sirsa in the run-up to the polls and still making a beeline as the D-Day approaches. The Dera for the first time showed its political clout in the 2007 assembly polls when it sided with the Congress and issued instructions to its followers to vote for the party. Anti-incumbency notwithstanding, Congress won 37 of the 65 seats in Malwa, the region considered a traditional stronghold of its rival Akali Dal. Even Congress leaders grudgingly admit that their success in this belt could be attributed to the decision of the Dera.

As dera Sacha Sauda does not have much of an influence in Doaba and Majha, where several other deras have their support base, the Akali Dal-BJP won a majority of seats here, catapulting them to power in the 2007 polls.

But this time round, the Dera is not likely to take a call in a hurry. It is expected to support individual candidates rather than a party given that it does not want to be identified with a single party in a state where two-party system has been a norm for the last almost five decades. It has already given ample hints to several contesting candidates who went to meet the dera chief that a fiat for one party is not likely this time.

After the Dera took a political call in the 2007 Assembly polls, controversy erupted in Punjab when the hardliners took out protest rallies and marched across the state, particularly in Malwa, when Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim allegedly dressed like Guru Gobind Singh, the last Sikh Guru. “Violence erupted and the situation could be controlled then only after great effort and time,” a police official recalled. As the Congress did not openly come out in the support of the Dera in the difficult times, the underlying message which evolved in the organisation over a period of time was support to candidates and not parties.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Dera chief is facing charges like sexual assault and murder, his support base in the dalit and backward sections of both Hindus and Sikhs in Malwa has not diminished. Interestingly, the organisation has little influence in Haryana, even though its headquarter and several deras are located in the state. In the recently held Hisar bye-election, the Dera did not issue any directions and remained neutral. Realistically, it does not have the kind of influence in Haryana which it has in Punjab to change the outcome in the marginal seats.

There are other deras and religio-spiritual organisations like the Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan at Nurmahal in Jalandhar, Namdharis, Dera Sachkhand Ballan and at least two dozen other important organisations which have a considerable following amongst the people of the state. Most of the deras have come into conflict with the conservative and radical Sikhs over a period of time but the political parties cannot afford to neglect them given their growing importance in the social, cultural and spiritual milieu of Punjab.

Be it chief ministerial aspirant Captain Amarinder Singh and Gulchain Singh Charak of Congress, Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal or People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Badal, all have visited one or several deras ahead of the polls. They are also not apologetic about it.

“We do not want to lose out on any section when the floating votes would be decisive and determine who forms the next government,” said a senior Akali leader. PCC President Capt Amarinder Singh is more forthcoming and says that he meets people from all walks of life and the deras are no exception.

Interestingly all top leaders of the state including Amarinder and his son Raninder, the two Badals and PPP’s Manpreet Badal are contesting from constituencies in the Malwa belt, where the dera followers claim that they could make or break political careers. (20.1.2012)

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