Gurugram: The Dera Sacha Sauda’s state and block committees across Haryana are gearing up to ensure that all their followers vote collectively as a bloc in the state polls even as a decision is yet to be taken on its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s application for 20-day emergency parole, The Print has learnt.
This source, a member of one of the Dera’s block committees, told The Print that a series of meetings of the dera followers are being organised at the block-level in Haryana, and the agenda in every meeting is “unity”.
“The meetings are being held at the block-level under Naam Charcha programmes (congregations organised to listen to the recorded discourse by Ram Rahim) of the Dera Sacha Sauda. The meeting was held Sunday, and the Sangat (the followers) were told that the next meeting would be held Wednesday,” the source said.
This, the Dera source said, was after the votes of the followers were split despite the same instructions after it was observed that not all followers voted en mass as expected.
“This time, we have been given the mandate from the State committee that not a single vote should go outside the candidates of the political party assigned to them,” he added.
Ram Rahim is currently lodged at the Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana. The Dera chief is said to wield significant influence in Sirsa, Ambala, Kurukshetra, and Hisar districts, which cover around 36 assembly constituencies.
Another source among the Dera followers told ThePrint that though the Dera’s political affairs wing was dissolved in the aftermath of Ram Rahim’s conviction, the 15-member block committees were now mobilising the followers directly under the instruction from the 85-member state committee, who in turn report to the top management of the Dera.
Asked which political party the Dera was planning to support, the first source said the practice has been to inform the Sangat about the name of the party or the candidates a day before the polling took place.
Haryana will vote 5 October, and the results will be declared 8 October.
Going by the ‘Bachans’ (oral messages) of Pitaji (Ram Rahim) on different occasions after 2014 and more recently at the time of the consecration of Ram Temple when he told Sangat to celebrate this as an event, the Dera’s inclination has been towards the BJP, the source said.
“However, I can’t tell with certainty what message the management will eventually give to the Sangat. But one thing I can say safely, that the Sangat will cast votes together this time. Earlier, some votes used to split because of local factors. But this time, we are preparing very well and sensitising the Sangat about the need to stay united,” the source added.
Bittu Insan, who looks after the Dera’s media wing, however, denied any role of the Dera in the elections in Haryana or anywhere else.
“The political affairs wing of the Dera was dissolved on the directions of Pitaji after the 2017 court verdict (handing 20-year jail term to the Dera chief for raping two disciples). No political activity was happening in the Dera or any of its committees to my knowledge,” Insan told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, uncertainty prevails on the fate of an application for parole moved by the Dera chief, who was last granted a 21-day furlough in August. That was the 10th instance of the Dera chief being granted parole and furlough since his conviction in 2017, and the sixth ahead of an election in Haryana, Punjab, or Rajasthan, where he has a sizable following. He has been out of jail for 235 days.
Like the last time, Ram Rahim has requested the prison department to grant him 20 days of parole, stating that he would stay at the Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh during this period.
Contacted Monday, Rohtak Division commissioner Sanjeev Verma denied having received any application for grant of parole.
“Any application for regular parole comes to me for approval but in case an application for an emergency parole is made by a prisoner, the Jail Superintendent has the powers to approve it. The emergency parole can’t exceed four weeks,” Verma told ThePrint.
Director General, Prisons, Mohammad Akil, was unavailable on calls and text messages till the time of the publishing of this report.
A source in the Haryana prison department, however, told The Print that Ram Rahim’s application for emergency parole was forwarded to the state chief electoral officer, who in turn sought the department’s comments on the compelling reasons behind seeking parole by the dera chief.
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Slain scribe’s son opposes parole
Anshul Chhatrapati, the son of murder journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, has written to the Chief Election Commissioner urging that the parole application be rejected since it was aimed to help a particular political party in the elections.
Chhatrapati had exposed the alleged rape of two sadhvis in a Hindi daily, ‘Poora Sach’ (The Complete Truth).
The Dera chief, Anshul wrote, was given parole or furlough 10 times in the past two years under which he was out of jail for 255 days.
“Notably, six times out of ten, he was given this exemption just before elections. For the first time, he got 21 days of furlough in February 2022 before the Punjab elections. Then he got 30 days of parole in June 2022 before the municipal corporation elections. After that, in October 2022, he again got 40 days of parole during the Adampur assembly by-election. He received 30 days of parole in July 2023 before the panchayat elections. Then he got 29 days of parole in November 2023 before the Rajasthan elections.”
ThePrint has accessed the contents of the email.
Ram Rahim was given furlough in August despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on a PIL filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), directing the Haryana government to take decision without arbitrariness and bias, he highlighted.
“According to media reports, Ram Rahim’s parole application has been sent by the government to the Chief Electoral Officer for consultation,” Anshul said.
“It is to be noted that no emergency reason has been cited for emergency parole in the said application. As per the instructions of the Election Commission, it is necessary to consult the Election Officer before granting emergency parole to any prisoner during the election code of conduct. According to the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act—Section 5, emergency parole is granted to a convicted prisoner for special reasons,” he asserted.
Granting parole during the elections would be a violation of democratic values, fair elections, and the right to fair voting, he said.
“Like every election, after coming out of jail, Gurmeet Ram Rahim can influence the voting by sending messages to his devotees to benefit a particular political party,” he wrote, adding that action should be taken by taking cognizance of the political activities of Dera Sacha Sauda in the interest of fair voting.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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