‘Do as directed’, Sirsa Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh asks followers in video message

Sunit Dhawan

Advertisement

Rohtak, October 15

Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who was released from the Sunaria jail on a 40-day parole this morning, has released a video message for his followers.

MOVE TO AVOID CROWDING AT UP ASHRAM

Our dera head has never had anything to do with politics. In the message issued today, he has asked his disciples not to throng the Barnawa ashram and act as per the directions of the dera management to avoid crowding and stampedes. Jitender Khurana, Dera Sacha Sauda spokesman

In the message released after reaching the Barnawa ashram at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, the dera chief has asked his disciples to follow the directions of the responsible persons and not to act as per their own will.

“Darshan chalte rahenge, baatein hoti rahengi. Saari baatein karenge aapse, lekin aapne maanni hai baat. Hamein pata hai, kehne ki zaroorat nahi itni baar, aap hamesha maante hain. Zimmevar aapko jaise kahenge, uske according aap logo ne chalna hai, manmarzi nahi karni (Visitations will go on, and so will the interactions. I will share everything with you, but you have to follow what is being told. I know that I do not need to repeat it. You always follow. You have to act as per the directions of the responsible persons and not as per your own will),” the dera head said in the video message.

While analysts sense political overtones in the video message, the dera management has clarified that it was an appeal to the followers not to rush to the Barnawa ashram as it leads to massive gathering there.

Moreover, some political observers link the grant of the 40-day parole to the dera head as well as his message to the ensuing panchayat elections in Haryana. “The release of the dera head ahead of the panchayat election and the Adampur bypoll implies naked opportunism of the ruling party in Haryana. The move is an insult to the family of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, for whose murder the dera head was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment,” says political commentator-cum-author Pawan Kumar Bansal.

The dera head, who is undergoing imprisonment at the Sunaria jail in the district for the rape of two of his women disciples and murder of a journalist, was also granted a 21-day furlough and a one-month regular parole earlier this year.

Notably, as per The Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, which was notified on April 11, 2022, the convicts can be granted a regular parole for 10 weeks in a calendar year, which may be availed in two parts. Nonetheless, the grant of another 40-day parole to the dera head has triggered a debate as it comes at a time when the courts are flooded with such requests from prisoners across the state.