Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is all set to make his presence felt in Punjab after a long gap of seven years. Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief will launch an anti-drugs and cleanliness drive in neighbouring Punjab. The sect head will visit his Ashram in Mansa district in the Malwa region of Punjab to launch the drive, the dates of which are yet to be finalised.
This would be Singh’s first visit to the State after he was embroiled in a controversy when he made an appearance in a dress similar to the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh on May 13, 2007. After his act, tension had mounted in ludhiana, Ferozepur, Moga in Malwa belt of Punjab, in Majha belt including Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and in Doaba belt including Ropar and Mohali. Many people were killed while several others were injured in clashes that took places between Sikhs and followers of Dera chief.
At that time, the supreme body of Sikhs, Akal Takht had also asked the Punjab Government to take punitive action against Sacha Sauda chief. He was also asked to present himself before Akal Takht and to apologise for his sacrilegious behavior. However, the Dera chief had refused to apologise and had also claimed that he had done nothing wrong.
In an exclusive interview with The Pioneer, Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh confirmed that he has decided to go to Mansa district of Punjab to start an anti-drugs and cleanliness drive in a big way. From “black money to his political ambitions and “various campaigns to his upcoming Hindi movie”, the Dera head talked about all such issues. Excerpts from the interview.
There is no specific motive behind my visit there. Punjab is suffering due to huge problem of nasha (drugs) among the youth. And, we have decided to launch an intensive campaign against ‘drugs’ across the State, besides focusing on ‘cleanliness drive’ there.
We will start the campaign after a satsang there. We have lakhs of followers there, who will take part in this special campaign across the State.
Sadhu Sangat (political wing) in Dera takes the final call on supporting someone. We don’t take decisions related to politics, rather they (followers) decide on such issues. And, regarding Punjab, our support will continue to Modi and his party for ‘cleanliness and other works related to social evils’ across the country. We will extend our support to him.
I personally like Modi for the work he does for the welfare of the country. After looking at him, it seems that our culture is taking rebirth, it is good. I have never seen a single Prime Minister in my life doing amazing things even after having such a big stature.
I agree that black money should be brought back to our country. In case, we are able to bring back the black money to the country, underprivileged population will not sleep hungry or without shelter and the money will also help in the progress of country. I also feel that the people having black money should have given a chance to use their money in good works like adopting villages to modernise them.
In Dera, we have strictly asked the people to give affidavits on black money… In affidavit, they promise that they will not take even single rupee of black money. One lakh people have submitted their affidavits besides thousands officers working in various departments here have done the same.
This initiative is not new for us and we are doing it since 2011. We have cleaned several cities, including Delhi, Ganga from Rudki to Rishikesh (80 km distance), we fished out 11 lakh garbage from Ganga in merely five hours with the help of 7-8 lakh people and now recently Mumbai, where our five lakh people have cleaned the metropolitan city. We are also happy that the Prime Minister has launched Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan in the country now.
We want there should be an Act on ‘cleanliness’ across the country. We clean the places, and people make them dirty and filthy again and it really hurts. A law should be enforced to continue such cleaning projects hassle free in the country and fine should be imposed on the violators.
Yes, the major problem is to get the permission from local authorities to clean various places. The whole process leads to wastage of time. For example, we had cleaned 80 km stretch of Ganga and then asked for permission to clean the Yamuna in the same way, but permission is still awaited since last two years. In Mumbai ,we got permission only two days prior to the drive, resulting in a difficult situation in bringing five lakh people from across the country at one place in short span of time to carry out the drive. There should be some sort of scheme, through which we may get the permission to clean the city instantly. We don’t want money from the local government and want to launch cleanliness drives by bearing the whole cost.
We request Modi to continue his cleanliness drive forever and should start it area wise or state wise. From Chief Minister to sweeper, the responsibilities should be fixed to execute this task at any cost.
I want to put all the mentally challenged people roaming on roads in the hospitals for their proper treatment there. Besides, I want to cure people suffering from thalassemia. I am announcing that all the money collected from my upcoming Hindi film, will be spent on the treatment of thalassaemic patients. A thalassemic patient requires Rs32 lakh to get treatment and we are focusing on a research to cure this disease at lower cost.