Opinion Driven to the dera

In politics, the rise of the dera may be attributed to the fact that in Punjab and Haryana, the social basis of political power has not changed over the years, favouring higher castes and communities. The political participation of the numerically significant Dalits and other backward castes has remained confined to mere “presence” in party forums or legislative bodies. The inability of these groups to emerge as a powerful electoral category, to assert their claim as stakeholders in the power structure and to have a credible political party or even state-level leader from within the fold has made them vulnerable to the influence of deras. There have been few sincere attempts by electorally relevant parties to mobilise these groups. Parties are unwilling to share political power, yet compelled to seek the support of numerically strong and economically mobile lower-caste voters in a region that has seen not only rising electoral participation but also high electoral volatility. So political leaders, including those from a “panthic” party like the Shiromani Akali Dal, have resorted to cultivating deras, which can deliver these votes en masse. That is why dera chiefs like Rampal consider themselves above the law and have established virtually a state within a state, besides collecting vast, unaccounted-for property.

The emergence of deras as “alternative” socio-cultural terrains with distinctive religious undercurrents, albeit in distorted or irrational forms, is still puzzling, considering that the Punjab-Haryana region has historically been home to progressive and reformist sects and movements, which rejected caste-based discrimination, preached equality, glorified manual labour and promoted scientific temper. If deras are now displacing temples and gurdwaras, and their followers are blindly believing in the myths and miracles of godmen, it is largely because discrimination has become prevalent in other places of worship. This has impelled the culturally assertive and now economically empowered lower castes to look for alternative spaces. In search of their own cultural roots, they have constructed separate monuments and places of worship, even their own gurdwaras or devisthans, or become followers of some. The tradition of the Bhakti and Sufi movement in the region has also familiarised the practice of looking for salvation through gurus or babas who claim to be messengers of god.

The deras emphasise ending caste-based discrimination and an egalitarian philosophy, invoking scriptures like those of Ravidass and Kabir, and exhort followers to shun liquor and drugs and to protect the environment. This appeals to socially marginalised castes as well as other social groups in the region. The deras’ clout is increased by the material resources at their command.

In order to counter the dubious deras and their babas, mainstream parties and their leaders need to shun tokenism and be willing to address the substantive issues relating to the empowerment of marginalised castes and communities in the region. The responsibility also lies with social and religious organisations. They must go back to the teachings of the original gurus, swamis and sants, and practice what they preached about human values. Until that happens, the deras are likely to continue flourishing with the tacit support and protection of vote-seeking politicians.

The writer is professor, department of political science, Panjab University
express@expressindia.com