eyeopener-derasachasuada - akalpurakhkifauj

Dera Sacha Suada: The reality

Contributed by members of Sikhism Community, Orkut.

PURPOSE

This webpage is meant as an eye opener to the actual reasons, cause and happenings behind the Dera Sacha Sauda issue. Almost all of us depend upon news channels to provide us with the latest updates on issues, but what is unfortunate is that most often one can see either incorrect or incomplete information, or a politically influenced or a biased view in these places. This web page is a small effort to bring to light the truth behind all of this.

THE TRUTH

Many people may have no idea about what the Dera Sacha Sauda is or what this entire issue is all about. Many national and regional channels in India have come up with their own interpretations of this Dera. Let us try clear the misconceptions first.

The Dera Sacha Sauda is in no way of or related to Sikhism. Sikhism does not support the Dera culture.(A Dera like this one here is like a cult following of people where typically a man declares himself as a holy person trying to gather followers.) So is the Dera Sacha Suada. In effect the Dera is actually a Jhootha Sauda.

1. This is not an issue of Akalis going for a revenge. Anyone in power would not ask for the trouble. This is a case of Sikh sentiments being hurt.

CNN IBN and other channels have repeatedly being saying that its a fight over faith between Dera and Akali Sikhs. This is totally false! It's a fight between "All Sikhs" and the Dera.

2. The instigation has deliberately been done by the Dera Baba who has tried to imitate the tenth Master of the Sikhs.

3. Its not just dress code, he has tried to play and mimic with the teachings of the Guru Sahib- instituting his own style amrit like

- he has 7 persons for his sharabat first and Guru Gobind Singh ji has panj pyare (5 beloved ones)

- he asked his followers to use "Insaan" with their names and everyone knows it was Guru Gobind Singh ji who asked Sikhs to use Singh for males and Kaur for females with their names.

and unfortunately just the way it happened in 1978 that led to operation bluestar and then 84 riots.

4. Anyone Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian who has slightest knowledge of Sikhism can easily make out the intentions behind the ads.

5. The Dera followers were aware of the instigation and were prepared for the Sikh reactions. within hours of Sikh Protest 12000 Dera followers came armed and created havoc in Bhatinda. Most of them were armed with same size of lathis as reported by News Channel.

6. The congress is behind these instigations and trouble is factually proven by photographs and videos, as almost 6 congress MLAs were part of the mob which created havoc in Bhatinda.

7. Tolerance does not mean that you demean the prophets of any religion and then ask the people not to react. And mind it the reactions by Sikhs have been democratic and mostly peaceful.

8. There were 1.5 lakh Sikhs yesterday at Sabo ki Talvandi to protest against the Deras misendeavors. Has there been any violence or damage to public property? What more can be the tolerance?

9. It was Dera followers who open fired on the crowd coming back from Talwandi Sabo. Their Dera is on the main road and they open fire, killing 1 Sikh (Kamaljit Singh) and injuring several others. How come Dera followers got armed with guns and ammunition?

10. Dera followers distributing lathis (sticks) and collecting stones was shown in one of the news channel on Thursday evening.

11. There are hundreds of Deras running in Punjab and never ever the Sikhs harassed or protested against them. Yes unless these Deras have tried to deliberately play with Sikh sentiments.

12. We would request all to support Sikh sentiments and expose this Dera.

13. We would also request Sikh brothers to not to play in the hands of politicians. Let us maintain our composure and peacefully protest against the Dera Head's misadventure.

LINKS

Below are a collection of links(videos/articles/news feeds/blogs) which will help us understand what the truth is behind this Dera and its self proclaimed head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, what is it that is wrong done by him hurting the Sikh sentiments.

I Blog

This blog has quite a comprehensive coverage of the incidents right from the beginning which have led to the entire event. One may read this, not to forget watch some videos of the happenings in Punjab/Haryana(Sirsa).

http://jaspreetsingh.blogspot.com/

II Offensive Ad in newspaper by Baba

This was the instigating advertisement given in the Hindustan Times by the Dera Sacha Sauda. Notice the person adopting the clothes/posture/style of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and making a worthless attempt to compare himself to the True Guru. And as mentioned earlier, he formulated rules for his followers similar to the tenets laid down by Guru Gobind Singh on the Baisakhi day in 1699, the day KHALSA was born.

III Sexual Harassment cases against Baba

The Dera Sacha Sauda for long has been in more controversial news than in good news for the killings of a journalist and a former member of the Dera who tried to expose the evil going on inside the Dera.

These links talk about the killing of a journalist who was trying to expose the rape of a sadhvi or a female disciple of the Dera by the head of the Dera, Gurmeet Ram Rahim himself. A letter written by this sadhvi also talks about the sexual exploitation of many more females that keep happening inside the premises of the Dera.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1926/stories/20030103003404000.htm

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070410/haryana.htm#24

http://www.cpj.org/killed/killed02.html

IV Murder Cases Against Baba

There are presently atleast two different cases being investigated by the CBI for the rape and killings which happened inside the Dera. The CBI has also put forward a cash award asking people for evidence to prove the same.

http://cbi.nic.in/PressReleases/PRelease2005/sadhvi.htm

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050906/haryana.htm#1

V Meet your Luxury Baba

The luxury Dera baba; Gurmeet Ram Rahim

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/dera-sacha-saudas-colourful-baba/40803-3.html

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/meet-dera-chief-a-luxury-baba/40768-3.html

VIDEOS

I Rapist Baba exposed on IBN7

II Murder Cases Against Baba

III News from Punjab

IV More News from Punjab

V News from Akal Takht

A Sadhvi's Letter to PM

Note : Words used in letter may offend some readers

A SADHVI's letter to PMO has been reproduced from Spokesman Weekly
dated December, 2002.

Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister New Delhi

I am a girl hailing from Punjab State. I have been serving as a 'Sadhwi' in 'Dera Sacha Sauda', Sirsa (Haryana) for the last five years. Beside me, there are hundreds of others girl here, who serve for 18 hours daily.

But we are sexually exploited here. The 'Dera Maharaj' Gurmit Singh rapes the girls in the 'dera'. I am a graduate. My family has blind faith in the 'Maharaj' (Gurmit Singh). It was at my family's bidding that I became a 'Sadhwi'. Two years after I became a 'Sadhwi', a special woman-disciple of Maharaj Gurmit Singh came to me one night at 10' o' clock and said that the Maharaj had summoned me to his room. I felt elated that Maharaj himself sent for me. I was going to him for the first time. After climbing the stairs, when I went into his room, I saw that he was holding a remote in his hand and was watching a blue film on the TV. Beside his pillow on the bed, lay a revolver. Seeing all this, I was frightened and became nervous. I had never imagined that Maharaj was a man of this type. Maharaj switched off the TV and seated me beside him. He offered me water and said that he had called me because he considered me very close to him. This was my first experience.

Maharaj took me in his embrace and said that he loved me from the core of his heart. He also said that he wanted to make love with me. He told me that at the time of becoming his disciple, I had dedicated my wealth, body and soul to him and he had accepted my offering. When I objected he said, "There is no doubt that I am God." When I asked if God also indulges in such acts, he shot back:

1. Sri Krishna too was God and he had 360 'gopis'(milkmaids) with whom he enacted 'Prem lila' (love drama). Even then people regarded him as God. So there is nothing to be surprised at it.

2.I can kill you with this revolver and bury you here.

The members of your family are my devoted followers and they have blind faith in me. You know it very well that members of your family cannot go against me.

3.I have considerable influence with governments also. Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana and central Ministers come to pay obeisance to me. Politicians take help from us. They cannot take any action against me. We will get the members of your family dismissed from govt. jobs and I will get them [bkilled by my 'Sewadars' (servants). We will leave no evidence of their murder. You know that earlier also we got the 'dera' Manager Fakir Chand killed by goondas. His murder remains untraced till this day. The 'dera' has a daily income of one crore rupees with which we can buy leaders, police and the judges.

After this, the Maharaj raped m. The Maharaj has been doing this with me for the last three years. My turn comes after every 25-30 days. Now I have learnt that before me too, the Maharaj had been raping the girls he had summoned. Most of these women are now 35 to 40 years old and they are past the age of marriage. They have no other option but to remain in the 'dera'.

Most of the girls are educated --- B.A., M.A., B.Ed, etc. But they are living a life of hell in the 'dera', simply because the members of their families have blind faith in the Maharaj. We wear white clothes, tie a scarf on the head, cannot even look at men and as per Maharaj's commands, talk with men from a distance of 5-10 feet. To the people we look like 'devis' (goddesses), but we are living like harlots. This time I tried to tell my family that all was not well at the 'dera'. But they rebuked me saying that there was no better place than the 'dera' for here they were in the company of God (Maharaj)They said that I had formed a bad notion about the 'dera' and that I should recite the name of 'Satguru'.I am helpless here because I have to obey every command of the Maharaj. No girl is permitted to talk with another. According to the commands of the Maharaj.

Girls are not permitted to talk to their families even on the telephone. If any girl talks about the reality of the 'dera', she is punished according to Maharaj's commands. Sometimes ago, a Bhatinda girl revealed the wrong doings of the Maharaj. At this, all the women disciples gave her a sound thrashing. Because of a fracture in the backbone, she is now bed-ridden. Her father gave up the service in the 'dera' and went home. For fear of the Maharaj and his own disgrace, he is not revealing anything.

Similarly, a Kurukshetra girl has also left the 'dera' and has gone home. When she narrated the events in the 'dera' to her family, her brother who worked in the 'dera' gave up his job. When a Sangrur girl left the 'dera', went home and narrated the wrong-doings in the 'dera' to the people, the dera's armed Sewadars/ hooligans reached the girl's house and threatened to kill her and warned her not to leak anything about the 'dera'.

Similarly girls from Mansa, Ferozepur, Patiala and Ludhiana districts are afraid of revealing anything about the 'dera'. Although they have left the 'dera', yet they do not say anything for fear of loosing their lives. Similarly, girls from Sirsa, Hissar, Fatehabad, Hanuman Garh and Meerutdisclose as to what happened to them in the 'dera'.

If I reveal my name,I and my family will be killed. I want to reveal this truth for the benefit of the common man, because I cannot bear all this tension and harassment. My life is in danger. If a probe is conducted by the press or some govt. agency, 40 to 50 girls living in the 'dera' will come forward to reveal the truth. We can also be medically examined to find out whether we are still celibate disciples or not. If we are no longer virgins,the matter should be gone into to find out who has violated our chastity.

The truth will then come out that Maharaj Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh of 'Sacha Sauda' has ruined our lives.

Source : Spokesman Weekly

Negative tactics by Dera to divide the Sikhs

The NDTV already played a documentary around 9.30 PM stating that Sikhs don't allow dalits in mainstream Gurdwaras but in Dera all are treated as equal without any discrimination (so, dalits have to build seperate Gurdwaras). This is utter rubbish!!! A Gurdwara is open to entire humanity, people from all faiths/castes/creed without any discrimination whatsoever. This is just a political stunt created by the Dera to brainwash people and attract confused and under-priviledged ones.

Now Dera is throwing such baseless and foolish tantrums through its Spokesperson. This was broadcasted live by AAJ TAK.

His False Claim :

a) Sikhs burnt religious Granths, including Sri Guru Granth Sahib (most revered holy granth of Sikhs) in their Dera at Bhatinda.

This is absolutely false! How can media broadcast this fraud news? Was there any such news from legal authorities? How can media let provocative statements Telecasted live?

The Sikh Community totally condemns this claims. Sikhs respect all the religions and expect the same from all.

Sikhs never burn any religious scripture (this is a conspiracy to trap them, we should be aware of this and not fall for such foul means played by the Dera people).

FIRST HAND WITNESSES STORIES

Much of this will be a transliteration of Punjabi. Sorry for the inconvenience.

May 14, 2007

Gur Fateh ji

Aj bathinda wich protest karan same ihna DERE de samarthaka ne STONES te RORE varsa ke te loka nu kut kut ke zakhmi kar dita.

te hale tak prashashan ne kuch nahi kita. oh puri tayari nal aye c, 4 jeepa Danga dia bhar ke te ik tarali STONES dia bhar ke lai ke aae c. jadi hi ros march start kita ohna ne WATTE marne shuru kar dite.

kafi lok zakhmi ho gae te is to baad ohna ne dharna lagaya hoya hai te mang kar rahe ne ki Jihna ne DERE de SADh khilaf eh ROS MARCH kita ohna nu ARREST kita jawe te SIKH JAGAT SADE TO MAFI MANGE.

Hale asi kehne haa ki punjab wich AKALIA di Sarkar hai.

Bas ardas karda haan ki mahol thik ho jawe, te bathinda te punjab wich Shanti fer aa jawe.
te bilkul we need SANT JI once again.

Gur FAteh ji
Gaganpreet Singh

May 16, 2007.

Brother, I just got the news that Nihung Sikhs have reached Bhatinda. Today, you must have seen on TV that protests were made in all cities.

All the followers of Dera who were sitting on dharna, got up after seeing Nihungs. The Dera followers made lot of chaos and beat many police men too. The police men were even in trouble. The DC then said, "Either you leave or we will go away and then its Nihungs vs. you. Make your choice".

Hearing this, all ran away. Then the police men said to the Sikhs that if they come back, beat them up, they have troubled us a lot. Then they beat them up.

Rest, things are quiet now. After the 17th meet, we will hold protest here. A big one, with all the groups. Then we will see.

Rest, all the snaps of these guys beaten up in the papers, was a sight to watch. He was the only with Kirpan. Despite being attacked with stones, he fought with 15 ppl but when he rushed to save others in the crowd, he fell down.

Now, he's in hospital with lots of fractures.
But we have identified those ppl who hurt him. We'll take them out of their house and beat them up, those who had taken money to fight us.

The mob said to that baptized Sikh "DHAN DHAN SATGURU TERA HI AASRA" (This is Dera slogan). But the Sikh stopped them and they were beaten again.

Kudos to that Singh's valour who fought alone with so many.

May God bless,
Gaganpreet Singh

III

May 17, 2007.

facts about patiala voilence

yesterday,sikhs in patiala started a peaceful protest march from tripuri town ...went through all the areas but wen they reached arya samaaj market which is a part of the old city&has narrow lanes,some mischeivious elements threw bricks and huge slabs of ice on these marching sikhs in which some people got injured. the rest lost their calm and turned voilent.

however the media has highlighted only one aspect..

i doubt that they have no knowledge of the instigating factor..

also the arya samaj area has a strong presence of RSS and co.

so the doubt of this mischeif goes towards them also..

Harmeet Singh.

May 17, 2007. Another Singh.

waheguruji

PLZ PAY ATTENTION

saad sangat ji,

we all have to b very very careful and smart.

HISTORY is repeating

and this time its further difficult

as sikh vesh 'ch saadey apney log hi saadey dushmann v han.

frst of all i want to draw the attention of all net sangat

b aware of media, it can also mislead us

yesterday afternoon -- zeenews said

due to heavy mob at xyz place, police placed curfew

they also shown videos, wth a live tag,

wth burnin tires & all

same time i taked to my cozen on phone

who said theres nothin wrong in th xyz place

as he was there himself, that mae me really tensed

so its very important to study the matter in detail

things r really goin wth some big controversy behind

what we r seeing on tv, we r believing

dont forget that media is also in hands of GOVT.