PM Modi Visits 'Dera Sachkhand Ballan'; BJP Wins Chandigarh Mayoral Elections

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Dera (sect) Sachkhand in village Ballan, Jalandhar district on 1 Feb to participate in the 649^th birth anniversary of the 15^th century saint Ravidas. Saint Ravidas's verses are part of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh charter and scripture) and he is also revered by the Dalit (marginalized caste) community. In his speech, the PM said, ‘Our government is continuously promoting the ideals espoused by the saint.’ The event was also marked as the 17^th anniversary of the foundation of the Ravidasia religion. On 24 May 2009, a few Sikhs had killed the then Dera head Sant Ramanand Dass at the Shri Guru Ravidas Gurdwara in Vienna, Austria. In 2010, at Saint Ravidas's birthplace in Varanasi, the Dera had announced the founding of the new Ravidasia religion and launched a separate scripture called Amrit Bani Sri Guru Ravidas (Holy Verses of Sri Guru Ravidas).The Dera head Sant Niranjan Das had written to PM Modi in 2020 to include the new religion in the next census. The conflict between the Dalit icon and the Sikhs surfaced when Modi decided to rename the Adampur airport near Jalandhar as Guru Ravidas airport. Before Modi’s visit, the Speaker of Panjab Legislative Assembly Kultar Singh Sandhwan had put up a slew of demands but none of them was acknowledged. Modi’s visit was part of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) effort to woo the Dalit vote bank. Before elections, due in 2017, all political parties start wooing the multiple Deras to attract the Dalits who form 31% of Panjab’s population according to the 2011 census. Before Modi’s visit, Panjab faced a number of bomb threats: to schools in many districts in the state including Chandigarh and recently in the Punjab and Haryana Secretariat building. A threat was also issued at the Dera a day before the PM’s visit. Simultaneously, BJP candidate Saurabh Joshi has become the Mayor of Chandigarh. BJP's Jasmanpreet Singh has been elected as Senior Deputy Mayor and Suman Sharma is now the new Deputy Mayor. The Aam Aadmi Party and Indian National Congress could not align to defeat the BJP on even one of the posts (earlier coverage).