The karma candidate

He wears bhagwa, sports a tilak on his forehead and once on the dais, talks everything under the sun but politics. A political nonentity til...

He wears bhagwa, sports a tilak on his forehead and once on the dais, talks everything under the sun but politics. A political nonentity till a few weeks back, Indian National Lok Dal’s candidate for the Mahendragarh Parliamentary seat Swami Dharam Dev is creating quite a few waves in Ahirwal areas. Certainly more than those created by the surprise announcement of his candidature by Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala a few days back.

And even as rivals are ridiculing the INLD’s decision to field the Swami by ignoring its own party men, political observers say that Chautala may have made a masterstroke. Dharam Dev, for one, has been attracting a lot of attention, something his rivals are struggling to do.

His modus operandi is simple. Dharam Dev has taken his day-to-day religious discourses a step further. So instead of the usual political speeches aimed at targeting opponents, Dharam Dev’s speeches revolve around the concepts of karma, janm, mrityu, and rajdharma. ‘‘I am a spiritual man and spirituality is the soul of this country,’’ he says. ‘‘When I talk about spirituality and religion, the purpose is to strike a personal note with the people. I don’t want them too see me as a run-of-the-mill politician,’’ he adds. For the record, Dharam Dev runs the Ashram Hari Mandir Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya at Pataudi.

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Another thing that has set Dharam Dev’s campaign apart is the fact that his speeches never end with an appeal to the people to vote for him. ‘‘I feel that getting something after asking for it kills the very meaning of it all. When I stand before a crowd, I just want the people to listen to me. They should vote for me without me asking them to do so. That that would be my real victory,’’ he says. So, the Swami tells the people to do good deeds and always remember God in whatever they do. And they listen attentively.

Perceived as a novice in politics, Dharam Dev is emphatic in stating that he has jumped in the fray to ‘‘cleanse the system’’. ‘‘I had no interest in politics and had even refused twice to Chautalaji saying that politics was a corrupt business’’ he says. ‘‘But Chautalaji said that who would set things right if people like me shied away from politics. That gave me the inspiration,’’ says the Swami. As for the sanyasi in him, he says, ‘‘A sanyasi will always remain a sanyasi. I am here just because my country is involved here,’’ he tells you.

Even as none of the other political parties see him as any threat, there is no denying the fact that Dharam Dev has managed to attract and hold the attention of the masses. At a recent election rally at Taoru (Faridabad Parliamentary Constituency) to be addressed by Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, Swami Dharam Dev stole the thunder with his non-stop discourse on the good and the evil when the CM failed to turn up even three hours behind schedule. The rural crowd, which had waited patiently for the CM all the while, dispersed the minute Dharam Dev left the scene.