Chandigarh: The saga of Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Dera Sacha Sauda continues to surprise. With new revelations coming in every day detailing various facets of Gurmeet Ram Ram Rahim’s life – his highly luxurious but crass lifestyle, his twisted relationship with with his ‘daughter’ Honeypreet, his foray into highly commercial but poorly made movies, his obsession with the seven wonders of the world, his underground dwellings with tunnels connected to the women’s hostel, half-constructed water villa for foreign devotees, his business interests and political linkages, the vast network of Dera Naam Charcha Ghars and followers, his fleet of cars and a helicopter, assets worth thousands of crores, his alleged sex escapades, unlicensed organ collection facilities, castration in the name of nirvana, rape in the garb of blessing – the list seems almost endless.
However, it emerges that all of Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s idiosyncrasies and obsessions are manifestations of a man who was totally in control, someone who’s every little wish was carried out as a command from the heavens by his followers. But how did Gurmeet Ram Rahim come to command such absolute power? From it’s outlook and activities, it appears that Dera Sacha Sauda worked more like a cult, which did not particularly stick to any of the laid out principles of spirituality, religion, or philosophy. Apart from its fundamental ethic of equality for all sections of society, something that helped it attract a very large following among the weaker and backward sections of the society, Dera Sacha Sauda philosophical mooring (or the lack of it) was dependent on the whims and fancies of Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
This phenomenon of personality-centric functioning of a cult primarily derived from religion is not unique to India. As a matter of fact, cults are very much a part of society in more advanced economies like the USA. The violence, leading to deaths of 39 Dera followers, perpetrated by Dera followers in Panchkula in the aftermath of Gurmeet Ram Rahim verdict reminds of the People’s Temple, a socialist cult that was formed in the USA in 1950s.
The People’s Temple was established by Jim Jones, a highly charismatic individual, who came up with the idea of marrying the teachings of Bible with socialism to create a grouping that practiced what came to known as “apostolic socialism”. In reality, the teachings of Jim Jones were a complicated mix that drew heavily from the Bible and presented it in the Marxist paradigm of equality for all classes of society. After coming under attack from the media and the Government in the USA in the 70s, Jim Jones along with 500 of his followers shifted base to the socialist Guyana in South America.
There Jones established The People’s Temple Project, or Jonestown, a settlement spread over 3000 acres in a remote part of the country. Initially the settlement thrived and was modeled as a utopia, which led to many more of his followers joining him. However, the US Government renewed its investigations into the workings of the People’s Temple in 1978. After seeing all his options coming to a naught, a schizophrenic Jim Jones, whose mental and physical health was deteriorating fast, convinced all his followers to commit mass suicide. Such was his hold over the minds of his followers that 918 people committed suicide in a ceremony on November 18, 1978 by consuming poison in what Jones termed as ‘revolutionary suicide’. Jones too was found dead at the site with a bullet in his head.