Paroles amid elections: How Dera chief Ram Rahim’s jail exits play out in Haryana polls

In 2017, Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years successful situation for raping 2 of his disciples successful the Dera office successful Sirsa. Since then, helium has been retired of situation either connected parole oregon furlough astatine slightest 11 times. By the clip his existent parole ends, helium would walk much than 275 days of his condemnation extracurricular jail.

Ram Rahim’s paroles and furloughs person often coincided with the elections successful Haryana and adjacent successful Punjab oregon Rajasthan. Several constituencies of these states, particularly Haryana, are said to person a sizeable fig of the Dera’s followers.

In 2022, the Dera main was fto retired of situation thrice. First came a 21-day furlough successful aboriginal February, weeks earlier the Punjab Assembly elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept to powerfulness with 92 seats arsenic against the Congress’s 18, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s 3 and the BJP-led NDA’s 2 seats successful the 117-member Assembly.

Ram Rahim past got a 30-day parole from June 17 till July 18, with the determination raising eyebrows arsenic the municipal elections were past circular the country successful Haryana for 46 section bodies, including 18 municipal assembly and 26 municipal committees. Though helium stayed enactment successful his Baghpat ashram, his online satsang (discourse) successful Rohtak territory created a disturbance aft BJP person and ex-Karnal politician Renu Bala Gupta was seen seeking his blessings virtually. In these polls, the BJP won 25 section bodies portion the Congress and the party-backed Independents won 20.

In 2022, the Dera main was again released from October 15 till November 25, which coincided with the bypoll successful Adampur, a stronghold of erstwhile main curate Bhajan Lal’s family. Bhajan Lal’s grandson Bhavya Bishnoi, contesting connected the BJP’s ticket, won the seat.

In 2023, Ram Rahim stepped retired of situation connected a 30-day parole successful July-August, that coincided with the Haryana panchayat elections, successful which a bulk of the BJP-backed candidates won.

He was adjacent released from November 21 till December 13 during the Rajasthan Assembly elections, which saw the BJP coming to powerfulness by winning 115 seats retired of 200 arsenic against the Congress’s 70 seats.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Dera had openly supported the BJP successful Haryana. The enactment had won 7 seats retired of 10 successful the authorities arsenic against the Congress’s 2 seats. It had nevertheless mislaid from the Sirsa (Scheduled Castes-reserved) constituency to the INLD’s candidate.

Later that year, the Dera backed the BJP successful the elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly too, successful which the enactment emerged arsenic the victor, forming its authorities successful the authorities for the archetypal clip arsenic its tally roseate to 47 from 4 successful 2009.

After the canvass results, respective BJP leaders made a beeline to conscionable Ram Rahim with the pictures of their vehicles lined up extracurricular the Dera office going viral.

But specified a bonhomie took a deed aft Ram Rahim’s condemnation successful 2017 and 2 years later, during the 2019 Lok Sabha and Haryana Assembly elections, the Dera did not enactment immoderate governmental party. The BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls and aboriginal besides managed to signifier a conjugation authorities successful the authorities with the JJP contempt stopping abbreviated of a elemental majority.

Early this year, the Dera main remained retired of situation from January 19 till March 10. His son’s father-in-law is three-time Congress MLA Harminder Jassi, who switched to the BJP this May during the Lok Sabha polls. Both the BJP and the Congress got 5 seats each successful the polls, but the second won from the Sirsa spot by a borderline of astir 3 lakh votes.

In the upcoming Assembly polls, the Dera has not indicated its enactment for immoderate enactment truthful far. Just earlier his release, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) nevertheless wrote to the Election Commission (EC) to reason his parole, saying it would interruption the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The authorities main electoral serviceman (CEO) acceptable conditions for his parole, including a prohibition connected his introduction successful Haryana, delivering nationalist speeches oregon indulging successful immoderate governmental activity.

The Dera main is known to person governmental connections cutting crossed enactment lines.

Prison officials person claimed that Ram Rahim has not got “any preferential treatment” and that helium has been availing of the proviso of impermanent merchandise that is disposable to each convicts.

According to the Haryana authorities figures, successful 2023, of the 5,832 convicts successful the state’s 3 cardinal and 17 territory jails, 2,801 prisoners availed of impermanent release, including 2007 connected parole and 794 connected furlough. Some convicts availed of some and that excessively aggregate times during the year, assertion officials. The supra fig excludes 183 convicts who availed of impermanent merchandise from prison, including “emergency parole” and “custody parole” successful the aforesaid period.

Besides erstwhile Haryana jailhouse curate Ranjit Singh Chautala – who has present turned a BJP rebel to contention arsenic an Independent from Rania spot successful Sirsa territory – CM Nayab Singh Saini and ex-CM Manohar Lal Khattar person consistently supported paroles and furloughs for Ram Rahim, maintaining that nary rules person been violated.

Last year, erstwhile asked astir the Dera chief’s predominant paroles, Khattar cited rules, saying “If helium (Ram Rahim) has got parole, past it indispensable beryllium aft pursuing each the procedures and that is his right. All the convicts use for parole arsenic per the rules. If the regularisation permits, helium gets it; if the regularisation does not permit, helium does not get it”.