The widespread violence by the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim following his conviction in a rape case has brought the 'Dera culture", as it is called in Punjab and Haryana, into sharp focus.
Not only some of the deras have massive following, these have become an instrument of politics. While these deras depend on politicians for various facilities and patronage, the politicians flock to them for the large vote banks they constitute. For the followers, the word of the Dera chief is final and irrevocable. No wonder political leaders cutting across party make a beeline to these deras before the elections to seek 'blessings'.
Such is the clout some of these deras enjoy that governments are ready to go the extra mile to keep them pleased. The current Haryana government led by Manohar Lal Khattar, for instance, remains highly indebted to the Dera Sacha Sauda and its head Gurmeet Ram Rahim who had openly extended support to the BJP on the eve of Assembly elections in the state in 2014. BJP had emerged winner for the first time ever since the formation of the state.
In return the government had been patronising the Dera. Chief Minister Khattar has shared the stage with the now convicted Dera chief on several occasions. Videos of the state education minister Ram Bilas Sharma bowing down before the baba and offering a donation of Rs 51 lakh to the Dera are getting viral on social media. Many close observers believe that the free passage granted to lakhs of followers was quid pro quo.
Dera Sacha Sauda has remained in engulfed in controversies over various issues like the murder of baba's driver and that of a journalist Ram Chander Chattarpati, who had been exposing activities inside the Dera headquarters at Sirsa in Haryana. The Dera chief has also accused of ordering castration of several devotees besides hurting the sentiments of the Sikhs.
But this is not the only Dera which has remained in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Some other controversial deras include Nirankaris, Dera Bhanearwala and Divya Jyoti Sansthan.
As per an estimate there are about 10,000 deras in Punjab alone but only about a dozen of these have mass following. The initial concept of deras was a place of gathering of followers of a particular guru who was generally on the move. Later larger deras began to have their fixed premises.
Majority of people who get attracted towards deras belong to the marginalised sections of the society, mainly Dalits and other "lower castes" who do not get respect and equality in the society. It is significant to note that the population of Dalits in Punjab is 34 per cent of the total population of the state - the highest percentage in the entire country.
While there has been discrimination on the basis of caste in the Hindu society for long, their hopes had risen during the various reformist movements. Sikhism also came into being with the promise of abolishing caste divisions. Unfortunately the concept has got diluted now. Even Sikhs have started discrimination. There are separate gurdwaras and even separate cremation grounds for the "lower castes" Sikhs.
Though the deras had been existing since ages, the modern form of deras took shape and proliferated as an aftermath of Green Revolution. With rising prosperity and jobs, Dalits found that although many of them were doing well they were still being discriminated against. That is also the time the Dalits began to assert their identity. Evidently they began to look for places, including deras, where they found the concept of equality.
A prominent social scientist Ronki Ram, who has done extensive studies on the rise of deras, says that these are now "in the process of becoming new religions (or forms of a new religion). The Dera Sachkhand Ballan represents this trend".
There are quite a few Sikh deras but the popularity of non-Sikh deras has mounted by leaps and bounds. While the Sikh deras rever Guru Granth Sahib, considered the eleventh guru of the Sikhs, the non-Sikh deras has a living guru. The devotees consider them as God and are ready to make any sacrifice for them. For them babas can do no wrong. This was evident in the recent mayhem unleashed by the supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
(Vipin Pubby is a former Resident Editor of The Indian Express, Chandigarh. He has been a journalist since 1979 and has extensively covered the political and social developments in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and the North-Eastern states.)
