In some remarkable analysis in the social media of possible failure of the Ambedkarite movement to reach out to the lower caste in Punjab and Haryana brought some interesting conclusions. It is true that the Deras have become the hotbeds for recruiting the lower caste Bhakts in the unorganized religious folds. The Deras have proliferated all over the state of Punjab and Haryana.

As Pramod Kumar reported in the Times of India, the lower castes have been easy recruits because the organized Brahminised religions put people away and there is a big gap to fulfill the religious thirst and aspirations of the lower castes and that is the reason they flock around the Deras. The Deras have given them not only the separate path but it had also become the places of refuge for most of them. It has been reported that many women have joined these Deras because it made their men de-addicts.

The blind Bhakti leads to exploitation is proved time and again. If we open the bio data of prominent “spiritual” gurus, they are blotted with either sex scandals or financial scandals or both in different proportions. The religions in India have become exploitative than emancipatory. The “spiritual” gurus like Gurpreet Ram Rahim knows how to bring people together and how to build on their “vacant” spirituality, the spiritual and political powers of the Babass and their organizations. The recent violence in the North India killing over 40 people is a lesson to all the Indians.

The religions and politics blend in such a way that the rapist Babas like Gurpreet are escorted away in the helicopter and that he is being given special VIP treatment by the state. Gurpreet played an important role in the Congress victory in the past and he played an important role in SAD-BJP victory in the last elections. He has a political clout. The PM Modi kowtows to him and addresses him as “Guruji”. Modi styles himself as the Vishwaguru and the Guru of Vishwaguru is none other than the rapist Gurpreet. This is how the Hindu nationalism works and creates mass scale violence.

In the fearless display of authority, the HC issues a statement that Khattar and Modi have failed to maintain the law and order. Since Modi came to power, he is not behaving as the PM of India, but only the PM (or broker) of Adani and Ambani and the RSS supporters. He had not done any attempts to protect the lives of people thrashed by the Brahminical Hindu nationalists. When one becomes the PM of India, he must represent all Indians, not just a few groups.

As we know now that the violence in Haryana and Punjab could have been easily averted and the Government deliberately was loose. If at all anybody is to be responsible for these deaths, it is the BJP/RSS Government in Haryana. India never saw such a large scale violence and deaths as it is seeing now. How long will India count the dead?

If Ambedkarite movement had reached the masses in Punjab and Haryana, the lower caste would not have come in the grip of the Babas and Deras. It is the collective failure of the democratic movement that Babasaheb Ambedkar started to reach out all over India and to all the backward classes.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist