Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting with Punjab’s second-largest Dera chief help the BJP in the upcoming elections?
Ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday met the chief of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, at Beas, around 45 km from Amritsar.
According to sources, the meeting lasted nearly an hour. There were also rumours that the Prime Minister would meet with the Dera (religious sect) chief again, but only Amit Shah was able to attend.
Amit Shah, who was in Punjab on Wednesday for a poll rally, took to Twitter to share information about the meeting.
“Today I met Radha Soami Satsang chief Baba Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon. The work being done by Radha Soami Satsang Beas for humanity and social service by continuously awakening spiritual consciousness in society for decades, is wonderful and inspiring in itself,” Amit Shah tweeted in Punjabi.
Amit Shah met with the highest Sikh temporal authority, Gyani Harpreet Singh, earlier on Sunday in Amritsar, while Gurinder Singh Dhillon met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the chief of Dera Saccha Sauda, is also on leave for 21 days.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have questioned his release, which came just before the Punjab elections. None of the central BJP leadership, including Amit Shah and the Prime Minister, has met with Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
hough the exact reasons for these politicians’ meetings with dera heads have not been made public, their attempts are interpreted as attempts to influence their followers.
While Radha Swami Satsang Beas, Punjab’s second-largest dera, has always been apolitical and has never asked its followers to support a specific political party, sources say Dera Saccha Sauda’s political wing is seeking feedback from its supporters.
Six major deras have sway over Punjab elections in 68 Assembly constituencies– Dera Sacha Sauda (27), Radha Soami Satsang Beas (19), Noormahal Dera (Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan), Sant Nirankari Mission (4), Dera Sachkhand Ballan (8), and Namdhari Sect are among them (2).
However, having learned from previous elections, deras are avoiding favouring a specific party this time around to avoid a backlash.
