Badal & 'Dera' Beas Head Meet Majithia; NGT Flags Irregularities in Forest

On 26 Sep, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal visited jailed SAD Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia at the high security Nabha jail. This is the first time Badal has visited Majithia and he was accompanied by his wife Harsimrat Kaur and Majithia's wife Ganieve Kaur. While talking to media outside the jail, Badal said the Panjab government had denied several previous requests to meet Majithia. 'Even when they allowed Harsimrat to meet him, it was only for a few minutes.' Senior leaders Daljit Singh Cheema, Sikander Singh Maluka, Mahesh Inder Grewal, and Virsa Singh Valtoha have been denied permission on the grounds that only close family members can meet Majithia. On 23 Sep, head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (sect, RSSB) Gurinder Singh Dhillon visited Majithia in jail. The Dera chief is related to Majithia’s wife Ganieve, currently the Member of Legislative Assembly from Majitha constituency and is listed as a ‘close relative’. The one-to-one meeting lasted over half an hour. Dr. Kanwalpreet Kaur of the Department of Political Science, Dayanand Anglo Vedic College said, 'The Dera commands a following more than almost all the other Deras put together in Panjab. And to disrespect or deny any wish of the Dera chief would have amounted to antagonizing his followers.' Given his purported closeness to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dhillon’s visit had also led to speculation about him playing interlocutor between the SAD and BJP for a possible alliance ahead of the assembly elections. Meanwhile, according to a report by the National Green Tribunal-appointed committee, trees have been illegally felled in 40.34 hectares of forest land given to RSSB in Haryana’s Panchkula. The land was given with conditions, including one that banned felling of trees. Concurrently, villages on the left of river Beas have submitted a complaint to the District Commissioner, Kapurtaha that even during the recent floods, Dera Beas is mining sand from the river and strengthening the right side which is adjacent to the Dera’s property (earlier coverage).