Sirsa’s Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh headed to his ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat last Tuesday after he was granted a 21-day furlough from Rohtak’s Sunaria jail, his eighth temporary release in the past four years and once again coinciding with a State Assembly election.
This time, the dera chief was released ahead of the Assembly poll in Rajasthan, his home State as he hails from Sri Ganganagar district.
Frequent paroles to him have evoked charges from several quarters of a “quid pro quo” for getting votes of his followers as he wields considerable influence among Dalits in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Set up in 1948, the dera claims to have 65 million followers across the globe and runs 12 educational institutes and three hospitals. It has several ashrams, mostly in northern India. The social media accounts of the organisation on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have over 8 lakh followers.
Political analysts say Ram Rahim’s following had declined after he was convicted in rape and murder cases. The ability to influence elections also waned, as reflected in the BJP’s loss in the Malwa region, a Dera Sacha Sauda stronghold, in the Punjab Assembly polls last year. However, his popularity has improved gradually with the dera successfully building a narrative projecting him as a victim of the drug mafia’s conspiracy, they say. Allowing him to hold virtual satsangs (spiritual discourses) during his temporary release also helped.
Timely amendment
“Call it coincidence or not, he is released from the jail when the elections are around the corner, be it the Punjab Assembly poll, Haryana panchayat election the previous year, or the Rajasthan election this year,” said Anshul Chatrapati, the son of slain journalist Ramchander Chatrapati, in whose murder case Ram Rahim was convicted along with three others in January 2019.
He said in initial days of his jail term, the dera chief’s applications for parole were turned down for want of sufficient grounds.
Later, Mr. Chatrapati said the law dealing with it was amended. “The need to give a reason for the grant of parole or furlough was done away with,” he said, adding that he is mulling to challenge the change in court.
According to the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, a convicted prisoner can be granted 10 weeks of parole in a calendar year on the completion of one year of sentence and it can be availed in two parts. The convicted prisoner can himself submit the parole application now.
Mr. Chatrapati also alleged that Ram Rahim sought political patronage to protect his vast empire when threatened by his misdeeds and the politicians supported him with an eye on the huge vote bank in the form of his followers and it continued even after his conviction.
“While his followers are blinded by their faith, the politicians, instead of making the people understand that he is no saint but a convict, continue to support him. Election or no election, why to release such a criminal from jail without a reason?” he said.
‘No special treatment’
However, Dera Sacha Sauda spokesperson Jitender Khurana denied the allegations of any special treatment to Ram Rahim.
“His release from the jail during elections is a mere coincidence. When he was released in January and June this year, there were no elections,” argued Mr. Khurana.
He also denied the charge that the dera chief offered support to different political parties over the years during the elections. “Guru ji had nothing to do with politics,” he stressed.
However, BJP Ministers and around a dozen party MLAs in Haryana led by senior party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya had met the dera chief after the 2014 Assembly poll victory on an apparent “thanksgiving mission”.
A few months before his conviction in a rape case in 2017, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal had launched a special cleanliness drive with the dera chief at his constituency in Karnal.
Mr. Khurana also said the devotees were not allowed to meet Ram Rahim during his temporary release, but he held a satsang every morning, which was streamed live at the Sirsa dera, the organisation’s headquarters.
“He also launched a song to create awareness among the youth against the drug menace during his parole period,” he added
