Yet another godman has found his rightful place in the end, behind bars.
Interesting statistics of the man.
* Name Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
(Assumed a multi religious name to attract followers from all faiths).
* His outfit Dera Sacha Sauda.
* Income Annual income estimated @ Rs.6 crores that's tax free.
(Unofficial income may be much, much more).
* Headquarters Sirsa, Haryana. Over a period of time, the outfit has 46 ashrams across
India with branches in the US, Canada, UAE, Australia and the UK.
Background.
* The outfit, Dera Sacha Sauda, was founded by the ascetic, Mastana Balochistani for religious
learning on 29 Apr '48.
* Balochistanai died on 18 Apr '60. Shah Satnam Singh took over the reins of the organisation
and served till '90.
* Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh took over the Sauda on 13 Dec '91 and has been lording over it
since then.
* Over a period of about 30 years, he roamed the borders of Rajasthan-Punjab and Haryana
preaching goodwill among people and finally, found a gullible set of villagers who wanted him
to set up a place to start a much wanted social service.
* Land was gifted to him in large chunks to start an ashram to house the orphans and to take care
of the widows, who were left uncared by their families. Children were also picked up from the
streets who had none to take care of them.
* The strength of the destitutes grew and it was then that he decided to make his ashram self
sufficient and independent. He started a farm to grow vegetables for the ashram kitchen
and followed it up with dairy activity to provide milk for the children, ghee for the meals, cow
dung for the agricultural fields, bulls to plough the fields and to draw water from the wells. In
20 years, the Dera sprang into a mini city of roughly 10,000 inmates, complete with all
amenities.
* The villagers admired the man for his foresight and social service and started supplying him
gifts of raw materials like wheat, rice and pulses which supplemented his stores. In fact, the
Dera was self sufficient in all respect.
* His followers were a mixture of poor villagers, ex-servicemen, retired policemen and
bureaucrats. Could the politicians be far behind? They came in droves to offer their patronage
as his followers were potential vote banks during the elections!
And as every guy eventually becomes after acquiring power and pelf, he'd become a 'God' to his followers from whom he accepted nothing but blind faith in him! And that triggered his downfall. He began exploiting his female followers, subjecting them to sexual surrender and even castrated 400 of his followers, saying that it was necessary to maintain the chastity of his female followers!
The judicial process of the land will take note of each of his crimes and punish him. Finally, the law has prevailed!
And my salute to the two sadhvis and Anshul Chatrapati(The son of the bold journalist who was murdered by the godman) for standing by their statements, despite provocations and threats, and fighting a relentless legal battle for the last 15 years.
Tailpiece.
1. Why are we, as a people, so gullible to fraudsters like Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh when we know that we can attain our gods ourselves? And we do not need ushers, either, to lead us to them.
2. Was reminded of '73 when Osho Rajnish was beginning to set up his ashram at Goregaon, in Poona of yore and how he slid into ignominy among his followers as he began accumulating wealth. I'd just joined the NDA as a first termer then. History repeating itself?
Interesting statistics of the man.
* Name Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
(Assumed a multi religious name to attract followers from all faiths).
* His outfit Dera Sacha Sauda.
* Income Annual income estimated @ Rs.6 crores that's tax free.
(Unofficial income may be much, much more).
* Headquarters Sirsa, Haryana. Over a period of time, the outfit has 46 ashrams across
India with branches in the US, Canada, UAE, Australia and the UK.
Background.
* The outfit, Dera Sacha Sauda, was founded by the ascetic, Mastana Balochistani for religious
learning on 29 Apr '48.
* Balochistanai died on 18 Apr '60. Shah Satnam Singh took over the reins of the organisation
and served till '90.
* Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh took over the Sauda on 13 Dec '91 and has been lording over it
since then.
* Over a period of about 30 years, he roamed the borders of Rajasthan-Punjab and Haryana
preaching goodwill among people and finally, found a gullible set of villagers who wanted him
to set up a place to start a much wanted social service.
* Land was gifted to him in large chunks to start an ashram to house the orphans and to take care
of the widows, who were left uncared by their families. Children were also picked up from the
streets who had none to take care of them.
* The strength of the destitutes grew and it was then that he decided to make his ashram self
sufficient and independent. He started a farm to grow vegetables for the ashram kitchen
and followed it up with dairy activity to provide milk for the children, ghee for the meals, cow
dung for the agricultural fields, bulls to plough the fields and to draw water from the wells. In
20 years, the Dera sprang into a mini city of roughly 10,000 inmates, complete with all
amenities.
* The villagers admired the man for his foresight and social service and started supplying him
gifts of raw materials like wheat, rice and pulses which supplemented his stores. In fact, the
Dera was self sufficient in all respect.
* His followers were a mixture of poor villagers, ex-servicemen, retired policemen and
bureaucrats. Could the politicians be far behind? They came in droves to offer their patronage
as his followers were potential vote banks during the elections!
And as every guy eventually becomes after acquiring power and pelf, he'd become a 'God' to his followers from whom he accepted nothing but blind faith in him! And that triggered his downfall. He began exploiting his female followers, subjecting them to sexual surrender and even castrated 400 of his followers, saying that it was necessary to maintain the chastity of his female followers!
The judicial process of the land will take note of each of his crimes and punish him. Finally, the law has prevailed!
And my salute to the two sadhvis and Anshul Chatrapati(The son of the bold journalist who was murdered by the godman) for standing by their statements, despite provocations and threats, and fighting a relentless legal battle for the last 15 years.
Tailpiece.
1. Why are we, as a people, so gullible to fraudsters like Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh when we know that we can attain our gods ourselves? And we do not need ushers, either, to lead us to them.
2. Was reminded of '73 when Osho Rajnish was beginning to set up his ashram at Goregaon, in Poona of yore and how he slid into ignominy among his followers as he began accumulating wealth. I'd just joined the NDA as a first termer then. History repeating itself?
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