Truce to benefit both SAD, dera

Jaswinder Singh Baidwan

Akhran da mureed
Staff member
Mutual interests of both the Dera Sacha Sauda and Punjab’s ruling Badal clan as well as pressure from the BJP’s top leadership are believed to have worked towards the sudden turn of events leading to the exoneration of the Sirsa-based sect’s chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by the Akal Takht in the case of alleged wearing of an attire resembling 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.
On September 18, days before the release of his sequel “MSG2 – the Messenger”, Ram Rahim Singh had left for Mumbai along with his confidants and spokespersons for the promotion of his film and they are yet to return to Sirsa.
A core member of the sect’s management team requesting anonymity said that the dera has decided not to speak to the media on this issue at all.
“Ever since this issue surfaced in 2007, the dera head had all along been maintaining that he could never ever dream of disrespecting Sikh Gurus. He had even offered apologies if anyone’s religious sentiments had been hurt by any of his action. Guruji had conveyed his explanation through a letter as well as through the media at that time. However, we feel that every time the media complicated the issue further,” he said.
Interestingly, the controversy in which Ram Rahim Singh was accused of wearing attire similar to Guru Gobind Singh surfaced in May 2007, a few months after the Punjab Assembly poll where the dera allegedly supported Congress candidates.
And his exoneration by the Akal Takht comes at a time when Punjab has to go to the Assembly polls in almost 15 months from now.
The ruling SAD’s alliance partner BJP enjoys the best of relations with the dera ever since it announced support to the saffron party for the Haryana Assembly poll in October 2014.
 
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