Rape and murder convict, self-styled Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh might be behind bars since 2017, but his controversial Dera Sacha Sauda Sect is in limelight again amid election season.

For the past sometime, the politicians were wary of even mentioning the name of Dera Sacha Sauda sect and its disgraced chief Ram Rahim following his conviction in a rape case in 2017 and murder case earlier this year, but the Dera is no longer a forbidden territory for political parties.

With Sirsa based Dera Sacha Sauda Sect said to be capable of influencing lakhs of voters, who are their followers in Haryana, the political parties and their candidates in the fray are now looking up to the Dera to boost their poll prospects in Lok Sabha elections.

Dera Sacha Sauda sect, which had backed the BJP, both in Lok Sabha and in Haryana assembly elections 2014 and enjoyed the patronage of the ruling saffron party with its ministers even doling out crores in donation to the dera, is this time keeping the political parties guessing.

As the poll battle is heating up in the northern state of Haryana, the Dera Sacha Sauda had recently also held a show of strength with thousands of its followers thronging the Dera headquarters during its 71st foundation day in Sirsa.

Ashok Tanwar, Haryana Congress chief and party’s candidate from Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency also visited the Dera on the occasion of its 71st foundation day and sought support of the Dera in elections.

“I am approaching not just Dera followers but each section of the society for votes. This is not the first time that we are visiting the Dera and we used to visit it earlier also,” Tanwar said.

On the other hand, the leaders of ruling BJP are treading cautiously on the issue of seeking Dera’s support even as Chief Minister Manohar Lal had recently said that his party will seek support of Dera in elections.

Manohar Lal, who faced severe criticism over his government’s handling of the violence and arson in Panchkula following Dera chief’s conviction in a rape case in 2017, said that it is political party’s right to seek votes in election and the  BJP will seek votes from Dera Sacha Sauda, just like other groups.

While prominent leaders of the saffron party including Cabinet Ministers Ram Bilas Sharma, Anil Vij among others had visited the Dera in the past and even offered huge donations for the Sect, the BJP leaders are now maintaining distance from the Sect following Ram Rahim’s downfall.  Before his conviction, Ram Rahim was often seen with prominent politicians and was even photographed holding broom alongside Chief Minister Manohar Lal during a cleanliness drive under Swachh Bharat.

Indian National Lok Dal’s general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala too has said his party will seek the Dera's support.

Eyeing Dera’s support for elections, Jannayak Janta Party’s state president Nishan Singh had went a step ahead recently when he praised Gurmeet Ram Rahim and allegedly compared him to Jesus Christ and Guru Gobind Singh. His statement had however attracted sharp criticism from various sections.

Interestingly, even after his conviction in criminal cases, senior leaders across political spectrum feels that its party leaders and workers should not bluntly speak against the Dera or its chief as it may go against them in the elections.

The Dera is seen as a one-stop solution for politicians to woo the Dalit and backward class voters. Most of the Dera followers, which it claims are in a few crores, called ‘premis’ are from Dalit and backward castes. And, not only Haryana, Dera’s decisions also influence poll outcome in neighboring Punjab, where it again claims to have lakhs of followers.

Infact, Haryana and Punjab have a large number of Godmen and various religious sects.  These two northern states have religious sects of unarguably, the most controversial India’s Godmen namely Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Nirmal Baba, Ashutosh Maharaj, Sant Rampal, Piara Singh Bhaniarawala, Sant Niranjan Das among others.

The Sirsa Dera is stated to hold sway in Punjab and Haryana, in seats where Dalit voters are in large numbers. In 2014 elections, the Dera threw its weight behind the BJP, both in the Lok Sabha and in the Haryana assembly elections. And, the support of Ram Rahim augured well for the BJP in both these elections in Haryana.

After a trail of death and destruction descended on Haryana’s Panchkula city following conviction of Ram Rahim in 2017 under BJP’s regime, the saffron party seems circumspect of regaining the Dera support while the opposition parties are anticipating the backing of Dera this election.

More than 40 people had lost their lives in Panchkula, while more than 260 were injured in August 25, 2017 violence after Court’s verdict against Ram Rahim. The deaths had taken place in firing by security forces on the Dera sect followers, who ran amok setting on fire government and private property as well as vehicles in Panchkula after Court’s verdict.

The 51-year old Dera head Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in the rape case. He was also awarded a life imprisonment earlier this year in another case related to the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

The Dera chief is currently lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail and facing trial in more cases including Ranjit Singh murder case and case of alleged castration of 400 devotees.

 Though the Dera has tumbled since Ram Rahim’s arrest, his followers and those who had a stake in his multi-million business live in large numbers in Sirsa and surrounding districts. The sprawling Dera headquarters which is on over 800-acre land  houses a stadium, hospital, educational institutions, a resort, residential complex, markets, and other infrastructure.

“The Sirsa Dera will impact the poll outcome particularly in Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency. In Sirsa, there is a direct fight between Congress and BJP candidate as the chances of outgoing MP of INLD seems bleak after the party’s split,” said Kulwant Singh Nehra, Assistant Professor, RBI chair at Chandigarh-based Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development  (CRRID) while talking to The Pioneer.

He said that after the conviction of Dera chief, there is already an anti-BJP sentiment amongst the Dera followers. While the Dera is yet to officially announce its support, they are very likely to go with the Congress.  The Congress is likely to get benefitted especially in Sirsa (reserved) constituency with Dera support, whose followers are mostly from SC and OBC community, Prof Nehra said.

Noted sociologist, Jitender Prasad, a former professor of Sociology at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak said, “After conviction of the sect head, the Dera supporters are not very enthused for the elections this time. However, they may impact the outcome in two reserved constituency of Ambala and Sirsa in Haryana.”

Since the arrest of Ram Rahim and deaths of Dera followers during the violence that followed after his conviction under BJP’s regime, it is highly unlikely that they would support the ruling party in elections. Also, BJP is carefully on the issue of Dera and is not openly seeking votes from them as it could have a negative impact with Dera chief seen as a disgraced Godman after being pronounced guilty in rape and murder cases, he said.

The Congress and other opposition parties are seeking to capitalize on the discontent among Dera followers against the BJP. Each Fatehabad and Sirsa assembly segments, which falls under Sirsa Lok Sabha seat has SC population upto around 26 percent and the Dera can influence these voters in polls, he added.

The voting to 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will be held on May 12.