THE OTHER SIDE: Dera Sacha Sauda

Baba Black Sheep

A special CBI court on Monday (28th August 2017) sentenced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping two of his female disciples. Apart from sentence Court has also imposed fine of Rs 15 lakh on both the cases Rs 14 lakh of which will be given to the victims. This is the landmark judgement for the way court showed strictness against the accused and the government which failed in controlling the violence on the day he was convicted which killed around 40 people.

On 25th August 2017, Haryana government let Gurmeet Ram Rahim's armed followers gathered in Panchkula & Sirasa area of Haryana despite Section 144 was imposed in the area which prohibits gatherings of four and more people at any place. Manohar Lal Khattar who is ardent follower of Baba and bowed against him with his cabinet after his swearing in showed lethargy in handling the situation resulted in problems to locals along with innocent killings. The court strictly criticized this role of chief minister and even prime minister by reminding them that they represent Haryana and India respectively and not a political party BJP.

It took 15 years to this judgement and we must stand in regard to all those who stood strong against the mighty and powerful. Both the sisters who were victim in the case, the journalist Ramchandra Chatrapati who published their letter (in 2002) to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about rape by Gurmeet Ram Rahim which triggered CBI probe in the case, (he was later shot dead), CBI DIG Mulinja Narayanan who didn't close the case even after threats & political pressure, prosecution lawyers and lastly CBI judge Jagdeep Singh who followed the law & constitution than faith of Gurmeet's followers. We are indebted to them for keeping our faith alive in the system. Hope he also got convicted in murder case of Ramchandra Chatrapati.

I wonder why people are so senseless to trap in worshiping of these Black Sheep Babas who instead of showing path to god become God themselves. Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim is a rock-star god-man and still people have faith in him. Political association leads to growth of this kind of fake god-man and the fate of people like Nityanand, Asaram, Rampal and Ram Rahim shows they all are not for faith but money. It should also be noted that no political party head or prominent leader welcomed the court's decision. The people like Sakshi Maharaj who is MP of ruling BJP spoke in support of Ram Rahim than of those two girls. We must be vigilant to stop the growth of such conman by checking their allegiance to a political party.

With this good news there is also a bad news that a similar conman Rampal acquitted in two cases perhaps of lack of evidence. Hope he also get punishment in other cases and India arise above these fake babas/maulvis/pandits to become a better nation. God Bless India.

Fragile Religious Sentiments

"Kindness is a mark of faith, whoever is not kind has no faith." - Prophet Mohammad

Fragile religious sentiments or ignorance of the followers? Basic principle of every religion is almost same. All religions have same teachings but different gods it’s like so many different companies making same product with a different name. Except some beliefs every religion teaches us the same kindness, humanity, caring and forgiveness. Messengers, gods, prophets or anyone related to any religion are figures of idealism. Their lives are examples to be followed by their believers.

Now I come back to my question fragile religious sentiments or ignorance of the followers? Followers of every religion, sect or community get offended easily if someone criticizes their religious beliefs it is because of their ignorance they don't argue with criticizers instead try to abuse or physically hurt or kill the criticizers. Situation became out of control when so called torchbearer aka god-mans, mediators between god and follower took things in their hands. They instigate ignorant believers into doing things which appease them and their political allies.

Recently Kiku Sharda famous comedian best known for his role as Gulgule in Sab TV's FIR and Palak in Colors' Comedy Knights with Kapil arrested for mimicking Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda. Baba's followers get hurt seeing him mimic their sacred leader. What about us who hurt seeing him as hero on silver screen? Interestingly Baba himself is seeking pardon from Sikh community for hurting their sentiments by behaving as Guru Gobind Singh.

Muslim community staged nationwide protests because Kamlesh Tiwari member of a right wing Hindu organization defamed Prophet Mohammad. One such protest in Kaliachak of district Malda, West Bengal became violent and some of the protesters set a police station, some BSF vehicles on fire. Last year Hindus were also hurt by the depiction of Hindu Gods in the movie PK and some theaters in many parts of the country were attacked for showing the film. Renowned painter M.F.Husain forced to leave India for improper depiction of Hindu Gods. Christians were offended during release of Da Vinci Code. Sikhs became violent when Guru Granth Sahib was damaged and Prophet Mohammad's cartoon violated Muslim's religious sentiments.

Sometimes I think about futility of all Gods who don't have power to stop their insult. How easy is to make a believer angry? Question his/her god and be ready to face the consequences, your rational thinking may be wrong but not the things written in scriptures long ago?If a religion stops rational thinking, I stop blindly following that religion. It is also strange that those who get offended by questioning/mimicking/representing/drawing/ god or His messengers remain unaffected when His creations suffers. So make beliefs in your god strong and respect His sense of judgment. If what He did is always right than whatever He is doing is also right. Stronger beliefs mean stronger sentiments which wouldn't hurt easily. God Bless Himself, His Followers and India.