To the uninitiated, the whole row would seem silly. The trailer to Messenger of God, the controversial movie starring and directed by Dera Sacha Sauda godman Ram Rahim Singh, is tacky and over the top – just like many other Bollywood films. The only difference is that the actor is the the head of a large cult with perhaps millions of supporters in Harayana and Punjab, so the success of the film seemed assured.
The Central Board for Film Certification objected to the movie for precisely this reason, among others. It claimed that, if Singh was simply attempting to be a superhero, the movie would have been fine. But “in this film, the godman is playing himself, not a fictional character. He reinforces his cult’s beliefs through the film, and although he claims to be only a messenger of god, his followers call him ‘Bhagwan’ in the movie”.
However an appellate tribunal quickly cleared the film, prompting at least nine members of the censor board to say that they were ready to resign, citing what they saw as government interference in the censorship process. Meanwhile, protests took place in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi against the green-light for the movie.
How did this movie, which would seem to most to be no different from any other overblown Indian film, find itself at the centre of a political storm?
Dera and back again
The Dera is no stranger to controversy. Rumours of misdoings have been floating around ever since Singh became its head in 1990 at the age of 23. In 2002, a sadhvi from the Dera sent an anonymous letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, accusing the Dera chief of sexually assaulting her. Faced by a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, Singh testified himself impotent in February last year.
In 2007, the Dera’s followers and members of various Sikh organisations clashed on several occasions after ads emerged portraying Singh looking like Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and final Sikh guru. At the time, the Dera was forced to apologise citing a mistake, but the issue was never fully resolved, with Sikh groups not fully accepting the show of contrition.
Then too there was a political subtext to the situation. Punjab legislative assembly elections had taken place that year, and the Dera, with its large follower base, was in a position to influence the outcome. According to many observers, it did.
“Before the February 2007 PLA elections, the seven-member ‘Political Affairs Wing’ of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, for the first time in the history of the sect founded in 1948 by a partition refugee from Baluchistan, Shyam Mastana, issued a directive to its followers in Punjab, especially well represented in the south-western districts of the state, to cast ‘each and every vote’ in favour of the Congress candidates,” wrote Lionel Baixas in the Economic and Political Weekly.
The result, according to Baixas, was that the Congress, though wiped out everywhere else, ended up winning a significant number of seats in Punjab’s Malwa region, where the Dera’s appeal is most widespread. The subsequent crisis over the Guru Gobind Singh depiction is talked about as a way for the Shiromani Akali Dal, the party that won the elections, to get back at the Dera for getting involved in politics. The tensions would eventually be diffused after the Bharatiya Janata Party, Akali Dal’s ally, insisted that it would not tolerate sectarian violence.
The plot thickens
Last year, however, during the Haryana state elections, Dera Sacha Sauda threw its weight behind the BJP, instead of the Congress or the Indian National Lok Dal. This took some effort from the BJP, which aggressively courted Singh and his top leaders, and later a large number of Haryana MLAs from the BJP would thank Singh for his assistance. If conspiracy theorists had to look for a reason for the government’s interference, as the Censor Board members are alleging it did, this would be it.
But the political intrigue does not end there. Estimates suggest that almost 70% of the Dera’s supporters are Dalits or others from the lower end of the caste ladder, putting them in conflict with the Hindu and Sikh Jats who form the bases of the Akali Dal and the INLD. Those two parties are joined at the hip, which leads to unusual situations where the Akali Dal campaigns for the INLD in Haryana, even though it is allied with the BJP (contesting against INLD) both in Punjab and at the Centre.
Besides, things between the Akali Dal and BJP are not exactly great right now. The BJP has been trying to expand its footprint in Punjab, which means moving in on the Akali Dal’s turf. The cadres of both parties are gunning for each other, despite their leaders’ statements that all is well in the alliance. As a result, Akali activists have been marching to the BJP office in Delhi to protest the green-light given to Messenger of God.
All this is not without its dangers. It is easy to forget, but there was a time not so long ago when political unrest would lead to serious violence in Punjab. In fact, when Dera Sacha Sauda last clashed with the Akalis, there were lots of injuries and at least one death. While the censor board intrigue might be playing out as a case of the government interfering with a somewhat independent body, behind the scenes, a whole other political drama is being played out.
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The Central Board for Film Certification objected to the movie for precisely this reason, among others. It claimed that, if Singh was simply attempting to be a superhero, the movie would have been fine. But “in this film, the godman is playing himself, not a fictional character. He reinforces his cult’s beliefs through the film, and although he claims to be only a messenger of god, his followers call him ‘Bhagwan’ in the movie”.
However an appellate tribunal quickly cleared the film, prompting at least nine members of the censor board to say that they were ready to resign, citing what they saw as government interference in the censorship process. Meanwhile, protests took place in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi against the green-light for the movie.
How did this movie, which would seem to most to be no different from any other overblown Indian film, find itself at the centre of a political storm?
Dera and back again
The Dera is no stranger to controversy. Rumours of misdoings have been floating around ever since Singh became its head in 1990 at the age of 23. In 2002, a sadhvi from the Dera sent an anonymous letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, accusing the Dera chief of sexually assaulting her. Faced by a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, Singh testified himself impotent in February last year.
In 2007, the Dera’s followers and members of various Sikh organisations clashed on several occasions after ads emerged portraying Singh looking like Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and final Sikh guru. At the time, the Dera was forced to apologise citing a mistake, but the issue was never fully resolved, with Sikh groups not fully accepting the show of contrition.
Then too there was a political subtext to the situation. Punjab legislative assembly elections had taken place that year, and the Dera, with its large follower base, was in a position to influence the outcome. According to many observers, it did.
“Before the February 2007 PLA elections, the seven-member ‘Political Affairs Wing’ of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, for the first time in the history of the sect founded in 1948 by a partition refugee from Baluchistan, Shyam Mastana, issued a directive to its followers in Punjab, especially well represented in the south-western districts of the state, to cast ‘each and every vote’ in favour of the Congress candidates,” wrote Lionel Baixas in the Economic and Political Weekly.
The result, according to Baixas, was that the Congress, though wiped out everywhere else, ended up winning a significant number of seats in Punjab’s Malwa region, where the Dera’s appeal is most widespread. The subsequent crisis over the Guru Gobind Singh depiction is talked about as a way for the Shiromani Akali Dal, the party that won the elections, to get back at the Dera for getting involved in politics. The tensions would eventually be diffused after the Bharatiya Janata Party, Akali Dal’s ally, insisted that it would not tolerate sectarian violence.
The plot thickens
Last year, however, during the Haryana state elections, Dera Sacha Sauda threw its weight behind the BJP, instead of the Congress or the Indian National Lok Dal. This took some effort from the BJP, which aggressively courted Singh and his top leaders, and later a large number of Haryana MLAs from the BJP would thank Singh for his assistance. If conspiracy theorists had to look for a reason for the government’s interference, as the Censor Board members are alleging it did, this would be it.
But the political intrigue does not end there. Estimates suggest that almost 70% of the Dera’s supporters are Dalits or others from the lower end of the caste ladder, putting them in conflict with the Hindu and Sikh Jats who form the bases of the Akali Dal and the INLD. Those two parties are joined at the hip, which leads to unusual situations where the Akali Dal campaigns for the INLD in Haryana, even though it is allied with the BJP (contesting against INLD) both in Punjab and at the Centre.
Besides, things between the Akali Dal and BJP are not exactly great right now. The BJP has been trying to expand its footprint in Punjab, which means moving in on the Akali Dal’s turf. The cadres of both parties are gunning for each other, despite their leaders’ statements that all is well in the alliance. As a result, Akali activists have been marching to the BJP office in Delhi to protest the green-light given to Messenger of God.
All this is not without its dangers. It is easy to forget, but there was a time not so long ago when political unrest would lead to serious violence in Punjab. In fact, when Dera Sacha Sauda last clashed with the Akalis, there were lots of injuries and at least one death. While the censor board intrigue might be playing out as a case of the government interfering with a somewhat independent body, behind the scenes, a whole other political drama is being played out.