After Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s Release, Dera Asks Followers To Vote For BJP

Just days ahead of the Haryana elections,  Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was out of jail on a 20-day parole. He was granted parole with stringent terms including a ban on his entry to Haryana, delivering public speeches, or indulging in any political activity.

However, a day after he had walked out the jail, the Dera headquarters gave a call to followers to support the incumbent BJP. The message was conveyed to the followers at a satsang hosted at Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa later Thursday night, reported Economic Times.

Read also: 15th Parole In 4 Years: Dera Chief’s Parole Connection With Polls

Usually, the messages were sent through the Satsang platform openly before the assembly election. However, this time, the directives were more muted.

There was no announcement from the Satsang platform, but the word spread by office-bearers who were spread across the open courtyard. They sat among the satsangis (the people who were attending the gathering) and asked the followers to vote for the BJP.

One of the office-bearers who did not wish to be identified said to Economic Times that they have asked the followers to get involved in energizing the booth in a way that every follower should get five more voters living in their colony to cast their vote at the polling station.

Sources also revealed that Rahim who has been staying at his Baghpat ashram, conveyed the message to support BJP to an office bearer in Sirsa.

Dera Sacha Sauda has a history of being politically involved and they have supported both Congress and BJP at different times.

The Dera chief who claims to have a huge following in the state, has been supporting the ruling BJP since 2014. And thus his followers have a significant influence on assembly seats in the state. In the 2014 Haryana Assembly elections, the Dera’s backing of the BJP was instrumental in the party achieving a majority for the first time in the state.

Read also: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s Endless Furloughs, Just In Time For Elections, Raise Serious Questions

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for raping two of his disciples and is lodged at the Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak. He was sentenced in 2017. Singh was given two life sentences — one in January 2019 for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and another in October 2021 in the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh.