What’s on the mind of Dera Premis flocking to Panchkula : The Tribune India

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What’s on the mind of Dera Premis flocking to Panchkula

PANCHKULA: A sea of Dera Sacha Sauda followers has swarmed Panchkula in the past two days. Despite the hurdles created by police, the number of the followers continues to swell.

What’s on the mind of Dera Premis flocking to Panchkula

Premis in Panchkula. Tribune photo



Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, August 23


A sea of Dera Sacha Sauda followers has swarmed Panchkula in the past two days. Despite the hurdles created by police and civil administration of Punjab and Haryana along the routes leading to Panchkula, the number of the followers continues to swell.

Braving the early-morning rain with bags slung across their shoulders, these followers walk all the way from Zirakpur to Panchkula, past numerous police blockades.

Soni, a young woman, who has come here along with five other women from her village near Ambala, says they were asked to alight from the bus by Punjab Police at a naka near Banur. “But we had to be here for our guru. So we walked and walked. Five hours and 10 check points later, we reached here,” she says.

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As the followers, also called Premis, wear a pendant around their necks, with Insaan inscribed on it, they can be easily spotted in a crowd. With the administration using this identity to prevent followers from reaching here, some of them claim to have removed the pendants to avoid identification and come here.

Ram Kumar of Pakka Saharna village in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, says till he reached Bathinda on a train, there was no problem. “Then I learnt that the police were trying to identify dera followers and immediately put my pendant in my pocket. That’s how I managed to reach Zirakpur on Tuesday night. From there I walked all the way to Panchkula,” he said.


Read: All Chandigarh-bound Haryana Roadways buses to terminate at Ambala

Punjab dera management asks police not to level ‘baseless’ allegations



Pressure-building tactic?

Is it just a matter of faith? Or is it an organised pressure-building tactic by the politically astute Dera head? As The Tribune went about getting a ground report on what drives these people to leave the comfort of their homes and converge on the roads, we found it was a combination of both.

These followers--which the Panchkula administration claims to be more than one lakh now--have received messages by word of mouth for converging here. Driven by their faith in the dera head they carry some eatables, a bottle of water and a small bedspread. Sitting on the beadspreads, they are least bothered about their meals.

“Though Premis from villages in Dera Bassi and Lalru are getting langar for us, it’s not a big deal for us to stay hungry for a few days for our Pitaji,” says Ram Singh, who has come from Fazilka, adding that they won’t let their guru’s name being sullied like this.


Veiled threat

The threat, though veiled, of taking things in their own hands in case of a verdict against the Dera chief, is definitely there. No wonder a team of officials led by Panchkula DC Gauri Parashar and ADC Rajesh Jogpal was seen visiting the followers and requesting them to maintain peace.

Apprehending trouble, even the umbrellas of these followers have been confiscated even as cops continue to stand guard outside most parks and marketplaces of the town.

The tension in the air is palpable. Balbir Singh of Bhagtanwala near Bathinda, says the problem is more political in nature. “It irks the political powers that our Pitaji has such a cult following, and the politicians have to go to him begging for votes during each election.

That’s why they are trying to discredit him through this “fake” case. But we will not keep quiet,” he dares, even as a fellow Premi cautions him against “revealing much” to the media. “We are fighting against the lies spread by the powers that be.”

These followers also draw solace from the fact that many among the lower ranks of police are their fellow Premis, so police action, if any, would not be that grave. Raj Kumar, who has arrived here from Hisar, says though the private vehicles in which the Premis were coming were impounded for being overloaded, these cops let them pass through many check posts.

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