Himachal politicians visiting ‘deras’ to garner followers’ support

Lalit Mohan

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Dharamsala, November 2

With the elections drawing near, political leaders are seeking blessings of religious sect heads. A minister from Kangra district recently attended online teachings of Baba Ram Rahim Singh, triggering a controversy.

The Ram Rahim Singh sect has a dera at Chachian near Palampur in Kangra district. The sect has thousands of followers in the district and some ruling party politicians are approaching dera functionaries to get the followers’ votes.

However, since the sect head was convicted and serving a sentence in a rape case, a minister of ruling party attending his preaching online has created a furore on social media.

Many politicians also approached the Radha Soami sect that has lakhs of followers in the state. However, their visit to the Radha Soami dera was reportedly just an exercise as the sect never aligns with any party.

In Una district, there are certain deras where political leaders were visiting. Leaders of both Congress and BJP were seeking the blessings of religious heads.

Besides deras, religious leaders were also performing yajnas in temples to seek the divine intervention to win the elections.

The Baglamukhi temple on the Dehra-Ranital road is receiving a large number of politicians and their family members. Sources in the temple told The Tribune that in the last few days, many politicians had visited the temple and performed “tantrik puja” to win the elections.

A priest said most politicians visited the temple secretly. They left their security guards and supporters in hotels around the temple and came to perform puja here. Since the puja in the temple continued for 24 hours, many politicians also came in the night.

The temple has a history of receiving many senior leaders from various political parties and different faiths.

Capt Amarinder Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi, former Punjab CMs, also visited the temple before the last Assembly elections. Former prominent Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and MP and former Bollywood actress Jaya Prada had also visited the temple.

Row over visit

A minister from Kangra district recently attended online teachings of Baba Ram Rahim Singh, creating controversy.

Shanta flays leaders

• Former CM and veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar has flayed the leaders, who sought blessings of Baba Ram Rahim Singh, who is out on parole
• Shanta said it was sad that a person, who had been convicted, was giving sermons while on parole and ministers were seeking their blessings