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Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Dera Radha Swami Beas during his Punjab tour on Wednesday. He met Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the head of Radha Soami Satsang. Union Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah gave this information while sharing his picture with Dera Mukhi.
Amit Shah said that today Radha Swami met Dera chief Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon in Satsang Beas. Radha Swami Satsang Beas has been working for humanity and social service by awakening spiritual consciousness in the society for many decades continuously. That in itself is wonderful and inspiring. Shah arrived in Ferozepur on Wednesday to address an election rally in favor of the candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Punjab Lok Congress and Akali Dal (United) alliance. Amit Shah reached Dera Beas after addressing the rally in Ferozepur.
PM Modi met Dera Beas Mukhi on Sunday
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the head of Radha Soami Satsang Dera in Beas, Punjab, in New Delhi. Modi’s meeting with the Dera Beas chief came a day before his first physical rally in Punjab elections. In political circles, these meetings are being seen in connection with the Punjab elections. However, Dera Radha Swami never appealed to his devotees to vote for any particular party.
Strong base of Dera Beas in Punjab
Radha Soami Dera has a strong base in Punjab. Apart from Punjab, there are followers of Dera in many other states also. The followers of Dera Beas have the power to influence the election results in many seats.
Dera’s political wing strong
Baba Jaimal Singh established Dera Beas in 1891. The Dera is connected at the grassroots level and has remained away from politics till now. However, the political wing of the dera is strong. There is never open talk of politics and no announcements are made. Former state president of Congress Mohinder Singh KP is also a follower of Dera Beas. Charanjit Singh Channi has also gone to Dera Beas twice after becoming the Chief Minister. Akali leader Bikram Majithia also keeps coming and going there.
Dera effect on 94 out of 117 seats
There is no official data on Deras operating in Punjab, but according to an estimate, there are 9,000 Sikh and 12,000 non-Sikh Deras in Punjab. Out of these, there are about 300 dera chiefs who have influence in Punjab as well as in Haryana. Out of these, there are 12 deras which have more than one lakh followers. Dera Beas is one of them.
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