Wary Deras veer away from politics

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

Historically Miri (politics) and Piri (religion) go together in Punjab. But not this time round. Numerous deras spread all across the state and having varying degree of influence, have so far refrained from directly issuing any diktat to their followers to vote for or against any party.

Dera Sacha Sauda, headed by Gurmit Ram Rahim, is one of the largest and had openly sided with the Congress in the 2007 polls and helped the party in the Malwa region where despite anti-incumbency wave, it managed to win 37 of the 65 seats. Now this dera, along with others are in a dilemma – whether to support a party, a candidate or simply forget about supporting or opposing anyone.

“They (deras) have adopted the middle path. They do not want to antagonize any party or candidate. So far, the dera sacha Sauda is not favouring any party and is not likely to do so,” a follower of the dera said.

But it has not stopped the candidates in the Malwa region from visiting the headquarters of Sacha Sauda in Sirsa in neighbouring Haryana. Over 200 candidates and political leaders, and this include the who is who of Punjab politics, lined up and sought “blessings” of the Dera chief. They did get “blessings” but no promise of votes of supporters.

The Dera claims the support of 40 lakh people, primarily dalits, lower and backward castes who seek social equality by associating with them. But other deras like the Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, too have a similar following if not more. The Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan of Baba Ashutosh, Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Dera Baba Jaure, Nirankaris, amongst others too claims a huge following.

Hundreds of deras have mushroomed all over Punjab and almost every big village has some religious person commanding influence amongst the people. Most of the deras are patronized by one caste or the other and its conflict with hardline Sikhism comes when they ape the Gurus or use Sikh idioms to make themselves popular.

Villagers say that often they go to more than one deras and some, particularly the farmers, try every dera in their area before settling for the one they find themselves closest to, bringing in competition amongst them to retain followers. But none of the bigger deras, except the Sacha Sauda, has openly sided with any political party. At best, they support the candidate who is their follower.

Talk to anyone in the region and you know that almost everyone in Punjab is attached to some dera or the other. There are deras exclusively for dalits (both Sikhs and Hindus) and other castes. The dalits, who comprise 30 per cent of Punjab population, invariably are members of one or the other dera. Also the backward castes find spiritual expression more through the deras.

“For most of the followers, deras mean spiritual abode and not a political centre. If they find that the dera is indulging in politics and is favouring this or that party, they change their affiliation all together and many stop going to the deras,” a senior BJP leader said. He said, the followers are not “blind” and if the deras use politics, it could boomerang on them and affect their following. BJP is one party which has maintained cordial relations with all the deras in the state.

Due to the perception that issuing a diktat would affect their following, Dera Sacha Sauda has so far not taken any stand not has any other dera so far.

But All prominent leaders of the state – Captain Amarinder Singh, Preneet Kaur, Gulchain Charak, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Congress) Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal (SAD) and Manpreet Badal (PPP) make it sure that they pay a courtesy call to the dera chief, if they are campaigning near the headquarters of the dera. Some of them make numerous visits, depending on the clout of the dera on the people.

“In politics, no one wants to leave any effort. If they think that a person commands even half a dozen votes, he becomes important. Deras have so much of a following, that everyone wants to be in their good books,” summed up a senior Congress leader here when asked why do the Congress leaders frequent the deras despite quoting “secularism” in every speech.

On the reluctance of Dera Sacha Sauda to support any party, a BJP leader said that last time they supported the Congress and the Akalis came to power. Congress could not do anything to help the Dera chief in the CBI cases he was involved in. “So this time round, they are guarded and will remain so. After all the credibility of the dera too is at stake”. (28.1.2012)

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