When Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim returned to Sunaria Jail on September 2 after his 21-day parole, the question being asked was- how will he impact the Haryana Assembly Election 2024? As the Dera has a massive following with crores of followers spread across Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, it has become an important political factor in the area.
Dera May Impact 26 Haryana Seats
Dera Sacha Sauda holds significant clout with a sizeable follower base in the districts of Fatehabad, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Sirsa, Karnal, and Hisar in Haryana. Spread over six districts, its base covers 26 Assembly seats. It has about 1.25 crore followers, and 38 Dera branches, located at 21 places in Haryana.
Subaltern Factor
Another important factor is that since most of the Dera followers belong to the subaltern segment of society, they also send a strong signal to the people of the OBC communities, who may not be Dera followers. This complicates the political equation and enhances the impact of the Dera and its followers.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Released 14 Times
It was not the first time that the convicted rapist was released on parole or furlough, rather it was the 14th time that the Dera Sacha Sauda chief came out of prison since 2017 when he was convicted on two separate charges of rape and awarded a jail sentence for 20 years.
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Is it a sheer coincidence that Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been released on a furlough or parole every time an election has been held in Haryana, Punjab or Rajasthan?
2021: Haryana Municipal Election
The convicted rapist was released on a 30-day furlough on January 17, 2021, just before the municipal body election in Haryana. The BJP won 25 municipal bodies while the Congress grabbed 20 of them. Karnal Mayor Renu Bala Gupta hit the headlines for seeking the blessing of the Dera chief online.
2022: Parole Before Adampur By-election
The convicted rapist was released on parole and was out of jail from October 15 to November 25, 2022, days before the by-election for the Adampur assembly seat. It was a bastion of Haryana’s political patriarch Bhajan Lal. His grandson Bhavya Bishnoi won the polls.
2023: Haryana Panchayat Election
Gurmeet Ram Rahim was again released on a 30-day parole during July-August 2023, days before the Panchayat Election in Haryana, most of the BJP-backed candidates won the polls.
2024: Rajasthan Assembly Election
The announcement of the Rajasthan Assembly Election 2024 brought a piece of good news for the convicted ‘baba’. He was out of prison from Nov 21 to December 13, 2023. The Congress won the election.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim was released again on parole days before the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, he supported the BJP, which won 10 seats.
2024: Haryana Assembly Election
When Gurmeet Ram Rahim was released on parole after the dates for the Haryana Assembly Election 2024 were announced.
Why Paroles/Furloughs Before Polls?
Anshul Chhatrapati, son of the slain journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, for whose murder Ram Rahim is serving a life sentence, wrote to the Election Commission (EC). He questioned the pattern in the release of the Dera chief. He pointed out that out of the 10 paroles and furloughs granted to Ram Rahim, six occurred just before an election.
He also said that for the first time, Ram Rahim got 21 days of furlough in February 2022 before the Punjab assembly elections, and 30 days of parole in June 2022 before the Haryana municipal corporation elections.
Anshul Chhatrapati also wrote that the Dera chief again got 40 days of parole before the Adampur assembly byelection in Haryana in October 2022. He pointed out that Gurmeet got 30 days of parole in July 2023 before the Haryana panchayat elections. Then he got 29 days of parole in November 2023 before the Rajasthan assembly elections.