The story was first published on Newslaundry in 2017, a day before Ram Rahim was convicted of rape. We are republishing it today as Ram Rahim, who is serving a 20-year jail term, gets parole – again. 

For much of the English news media, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is somewhat of a joke who first burst onto the scene with his viral song Love Charger in 2014.

He’s been steady fodder since with his music videos, blingy fashion sense, hairy back and five movies.

The self-styled ‘messenger of god’ evidently has an excellent PR team that makes sure he features on Delhi Times advertorials and in TV news programmes right in time of his film releases.

Over the past 24 hours, however, media focus has shifted from Singh’s histrionics to a rape case that the Central Bureau of Investigation has been trying to crack since 2002.

On Friday, August 25, 2017, a special CBI court in Panchkula’s District Court will decide if Singh – fondly known as pitaji, or father, by his followers – is guilty of sexually assaulting Sadhvis in the Dera Sacha Sauda’s headquarters in Sirsa, Haryana.

In anticipation, the Haryana government has imposed Section 144 till August 30, August 24 and 25 have been declared gazetted holidays in government offices, schools will remain shut during this period, a cricket stadium will turn into a makeshift jail to confine troublemakers and roads leading up to the District Court will be cordoned off.

In fact, WhatsApp messages doing the rounds warn people, asking them to buy ‘extra groceries’ and to ‘stay alert’ since things may get ‘intense and critical’ on the day of the verdict. The reason? The Dera’s seemingly menacing followers who have descended onto Panchkula in droves. Some 40,000 of them in solidarity with their spiritual leader.

‘It’s a humble request…editing mat karna’

Roads leading up to the Dera’s centre in Sector 23 Panchkula are dotted with Dera devotees on either side. Most say they will make the pavement their home for the next two days. Many don’t have a plan beyond getting a glimpse of Singh on the day of the verdict.

It would be incorrect to label all the supporters as uneducated underclass. Sitting right outside the Dera centre, is a Chandigarh-based interior designer in his early forties engaged in an animated conversation with a bunch of other followers.

Vajinder Insaan – most devotees use the suffix ‘insaan’ instead of their surnames – has been a follower since 1993. The Dera, established in 1948, has had three leaders, Singh being the third. Vajinder’s family has been following the sect since the time of the second leader, Shah Satnam Singh.

His immediate reasons pertain to a medical miracle. This is a common thread across many followers – most talk of a sudden healing, after all doctors and hospitals give up hope, as the basis of their faith in the sect. In the case of Vajinder, he says his younger brother recovered from an accident at the age of 15. The doctors had said there were slim chances of him surviving the operation.

The brother is 36 today. This, he says, is because pitaji intervened and saved his brother by being present at the operation theatre. He believes this because his grandmother saw this vision.

Vajinder says he goes to the Dera twice a month and sometimes stays on for 20 days. “There is no place like this. Everyone has problems – financial, personal. I forget everything when I am at the Dera.” He finds the teachings simple to follow: a strictly vegetarian diet, treating all women like your mother, sister or daughter depending on their ages, and abstaining from alcohol and addiction.

Don’t the rape charges trouble him? Vajinder is quick to answer in the negative and assert that the girl does not exist. “There is no real person who has complained. It is all a lie. Sab jhooth hai. Those who haven’t even seen the gates of the Dera are casting aspersion on guruji.”

This is contrary to the fact of the case. The CBI has questioned close to 18 former Sadhvis of the Dera, two of whom have accused the chief of rape. One of them said she had been raped so that she may be “purified”.

When confronted with the possibility of the court pronouncing Singh guilty, Vajinder says, “This can never happen. We can’t even think of it. The truth will win and you will see this.”

He then launches into a long tirade against the media that only wants to focus on false charges and not all the good work Singh has done: “saved people from the tsunami, planting trees, getting sex workers married, and so on”. “I have one request from you…don’t edit anything that I am saying and please show the truth.” 

Vajinder, then, essentially lists out the talents Singh’s websites attributes to him: “author, inventor, scientist, an athlete, writer, multi-lingual orator, scholar, musician, theologian, physician, philosopher, philanthropist, peace activist and the ultimate humanitarian…”

While the MSG movie series may be a reviewer’s nightmare, for Vajinder it is serious spiritual business. He feels that the movies and music videos help spread the message in a modern language. “Look at this song, Daru Ko Goli Maro, it has some zabardast music. But it is spreading an important message to stay away from bad things. He’s speaking in the language of the youth to get the message across.”

Vajinder says one shouldn’t judge Singh by what he wears. “There is no dress code for saints. They can wear anything, so many saffron-clad saints have done so many bad things. You can wear shorts, skirt, sari or salwar but your heart should be clean. I don’t see anything illogical in what our guruji says.”

While the Punjab police has warned of Dera followers storing petrol and sharp weapons to unleash violence in case the verdict goes against Singh, Vajinder says they are a peaceful lot. He insists that there are no weapons. Another follower joins in the conversation and says, “Kuch karna hi hai, toh yeh haath hi bahut hain. Army, police kuch nahin kar paaegi (if we have to do something then our hands are enough. The Army or police won’t be able to do anything).”

‘Case bilkul jhootha hai’

Shyama Insaan has come with her sister and her husband from Dehradun, and will be stationing herself at a temple in Sector 21 Panchkula for the next two days. She’s been a follower for 25 years and speaks of a lump in her throat that got cured after she got inducted in the sect. She says she has gallbladder stones for which she will not seek medical help. “My guruji will cure me.” 

Shyama has come here to get a glimpse of Singh in case he makes it to the CBI court. The rape allegations for her are fictitious. She also believes that the complainant doesn’t exist.

Shyama speaks of the service at Dera: help for widows, sex workers, the third sex, the poor and so on. She’s watched all the MSG movies – “sau sau baar (a 100 times)” – and says they can save you from hell and offer a path to salvation. Like Vajinder, she says that Singh’s music and movies speak of a higher truth. She hums her favourite song, Party Dhoom Dham Se, and says the party here is a party for god.

Shyama is sure that Singh would come out clean from the allegations levelled against him: “Write whatever you want to, write a book but don’t say anything against our pitaji. We don’t like people saying anything against him.”

As Panchkula and Chandigarh gear up for the verdict tomorrow, more Dera followers are expected to pour into the cities. Security forces are gearing up for riots, but Singh’s devotees like Vajinder and Shyama are hoping things will end on a peaceful note – one where the court will acquit Singh of the CBI charges that pertain to rape, criminal intimidation and acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

This story is just one of dozens that we’ve produced over the years on India’s self-styled godmen and their questionable, sometimes criminal, practices. And yet most of the media turns the other way, often funded by conglomerates run by spiritual and religious leaders.

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