Munish Nagar: 

The Shiromani Akali Dal has been facing flak for approaching the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2012 and 2017 Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections. The party got the support from the convicted and imprisoned Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. 

It is crystal clear that the Deras’ have huge followers and they are also a biggest vote bank for the politicians. Especially, the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa bordering with Punjab has huge number of followers.

Dera has branches in various countries and it has around six crore of followers across the world. If we talk about Haryana and Punjab, dera had a huge number of followers and the political parties of both states bowed to dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for votes.

SHIROMANI AKALI DAL SPOILED THE RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT OF PUNJAB, BOWED TO DERA

In 2007 Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal candidates lost the elections in Malwa belt as the dera supported Congress. SAD won 48 seats and at that time BJP won 19 out of 23 seats. So, BJP proved to be a biggest breather for Akali Dal in 2007.

In 2012, the dera sacha sauda gave tactic support to Akali Dal and the candidates of SAD-BJP won the elections.

In the religious functions held in the past, the Akali leaders invited the dera babas like Asa Ram, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and other BJP leaders on stages. The party didn’t leave any stone unturned to get the support of deras for the votes.

After the death of Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the Akalis’ derailed from the party’s ideology. The party had worked for the cause of the people, Sikhism and humanity. However, after Tohra’s death, the Akali leaders started taking support of the deras.

Akali Dal took the support of dera sacha sauda in 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections and 2017 elections. However, in 2017 elections, Akali Dal wiped out by the Congress party. It was all because of the love for the votes.

BJP GOVT IN HARYANA BOWED TO DERA CHIEF IN 2014 VIDHAN SABHA ELECTIONS

The BJP had no base in the Haryana state and first time, the party won the elections in the state with a landslide victory in 2014 due to dera’s support. The Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar shared stages with Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh many a times during official functions.

Moreover, the cabinet minister Anil Vij had allocated a grant of Rs 50 lakhs to dera.

EVEN AKAL TAKHT PARDONED DERA CHIEF, LATER REVOKED THE DECISION

In September 2015, the Takht had pardoned Ram Rahim for the May 2007 “blasphemy”. The decision had come in for widespread criticism from Sikh hardliners, who had alleged that it was “politically motivated” by the SAD to secure dera the support for the 2017 assembly polls. Under pressure, the Takht had to reverse its pardon decision.

AKALI LEADERS VISITED DERA, ATTENDED MEETINGS BEFORE 2017 ELECTIONS

The Akali leaders visited dera before elections and that hit the headlines. Even the leaders also participated in the dera meetings.

SAD candidates from nine constituencies of Bathinda and Mansa districts attended a meeting organised by the dera’s religious wing at a banquet hall in Bathinda.

Sikander Singh Maluka, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Jeet Mohinder Sidhu, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Surjit Rakhra visited dera and held meetings with dera supporters before Vidhan Sabha elections. The leaders were summoned by the Akal Takht also.

BADALS VIOLATED 2007 EDICT OF BOYCOTTING DERA CHIEF

Akali Dal leaders especially the president, Sukhbir Singh Badal faced ire of the Sikh leaders for violating the 2007 edict under which the dera head was boycotted socially, religiously and politically.

The senior SAD leader and member Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Karnail Singh Panjoli in a written complaint to the authority has accused Akali Dal of violating the edict issued by the Akal Takht on May 17, 2007 under which a social, political and religious boycott order was issued against Dera chief for imitating the Sikh Guru.

SUKHBIR BADAL EATS HUMBLE PIE, APPRECIATED THE CBI COURT’S DECISION

When the dera head convicted and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, the SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal hailed the decision of the court and didn’t speak against the baba.

Sukhbir was in the vacillating condition at that time and finally, he had no other option left except appreciated the court’s decision.