Chandigarh: In Punjab Assembly Elections, the one force that exert a significant influence on voters are religious sects & deras.
The political heat in the state is at its peak ahead of the Punjab assembly elections. All political parties are using all sorts of tricks to woo the voters. Apart from other aspect, the caste equations in Punjab, there is as much dominance of deras, which have millions of followers and plays a vital role in vote bank in polls.
Leaving no stone unturned, all political leaders are making a bee line to meet and seek blessings of Dera leaders before elections.
Similarly, dera sacha sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim getting a 21-day parole is crucial as it has a massive vote bank in Malwa religion, likewise, recently, PM Narendra Modi had met the head of Radha Swami Dera, which has a strong base in Doaba and Majha.
Yesterday, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi also visited the Dera of Baba Ashutosh, popularly known as Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan, to meet the dera organisers. He was recently seen spending the night at Dera Balla in Jalandhar. The dera has a good influence in the vicinity of Nakodar, Jalandhar and Nurmahal.
Recently, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had visited Sach Khand Ballan Dera of the Ravidassia community in Jalandhar. He also visited Sant Pritam Dass Dera Babe Jaure in Raipur Rasoolpur village of Jalandhar district.
On the same pattern, Akali Dal and AAP leaders have been making all efforts to get the dera supports as Arvind Kejriwal and SAD Sukhbir Badal had also visited various Deras to meet them.
Deras domination in Punjab
There are six such deras in Punjab, which not only have millions of followers but also have a political clout. In Punjab, a quarter of the population supports to some dera or the other. These deras are – Dera Sacha Sauda, Radha Swami Satsang Beas, Nurmahal Dera (Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan), Sant Nirankari Mission, Namdhari Sect and Dera Sachkhand Ballan. These deras are extremely influential and have their influence in 68 assembly segments during elections.
While there are 30-35 seats where they can make and spoil the game of a candidate, the population of Punjab is 2.98 crore. Of these, there are about 53 lakh voters who believe in deras.