Dera Baba Ducks Death

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and The Siddhi of PR

Dera Sacha Sauda guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the Sikh apostate who posed for photographs dressed as Sikhism's most holy patriarch – launching riots all across the Punjab in May of 2007 – narrowly escaped a truck-bombing attempt on his life last Saturday:

Ram Rahim Singh, who hurt sentiments by replicating the manners and attire of Sikh spiritual head Guru Gobind Singh, escaped an attempt on his life on Saturday evening when a Punjab militant group triggered an explosion in his cavalcade while he was travelling from Ambala to Delhi...

The explosive was planted in a truck which was supposed to hit Ram Rahim Singh’s car. The truck, however, hit the wrong car.

Isn't it all a little over the top? We think so. Apparently, some Sikhs don't, so the sartorial blunder guru best be blasting himself out of the Punjab if he's to ever make it to the Bryant Park tents in this lifetime.

Dera Baba Goes From Pot To Flame

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and The Siddhi of PR

Gurmit Singh Ram Rahim really blew it when he dressed like one of the fathers of Sikhism. Folks in the Punjab take their patriarchs' fashion very seriously, throwing the Baba into a world of legal hurt and a lot of hot water.

Well, the Baba just went from the boiling pot directly into the flame. Busting for disturbing the sentiments of the Sikhs after widespread riots broke out as a result of his sartorial stunt, the guy is now facing rape and murder charges:

Ranjit Singh, who at one time was a senior dera member, was shot dead when it was discovered that he had submitted some information to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee relating to the Dera Chief molesting and raping his sister, who too was a follower of the dera. In addition, the CBI also included 10 other testimonies and some forensic science evidence that suggests that the revolver used in Ranjit Singh’s murder belonged to Kishan Lal, a senior official of the Dera.

The other murder case in which Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s name is included is that of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chatterpatti. Chatterpatti was murdered after he published details of the wrongdoings of the Dera Chief. This case also includes proof against other Dera cult leaders as well.

The third case of sexual harassment and rape is the strongest in respect to the evidence as one 33 year old “Sadhvi” personally testified in front of the CBI and alleged that the Dera Chief had personally molested her in 1999. According to the testimony of “Sadhvi,” the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa is home to hundreds of women followers and from time to time, the Dera Chief abuses them to fulfill his lustful desires.

Hey, he sounds just like our pal Kreepalu!

It's hard to see exactly what is going on here. The Baba is either getting railroaded by a Punjabi bullet train, or he's a major contender for the title of the creepiest and most criminal guru out there. Perhaps it will come out in the trial, although his chances of getting a fair one in a state that arrested him for dressing to impress seem pretty limited, if they even exist at all.

Sikhs Still Have Sights Trained On Dera Baba

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Dera Sacha Sauda sect guru Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh is still in boiling hot water for dressing like the 10th Sikh patriarch Guru Gobind Singh:

The Haryana government on Wednesday decided to give Z-plus security to Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda sect whom Sikhs have accused of blasphemy.

"We have decided to provide him with the Z-plus security cover in view of the threats to eliminate him," Haryana's Additional DGP (CID) P V Rathee told PTI.

The hit is out in the Punjab, and we doubt that even Z-plus security is gonna cover the Baba's ass. With an ongoing boycott against his group and the ire of an inflamed populace, the Baba doesn't have much choice other than to hole up, stay low and keep ducking.

Sikhs Still Gunning For Baba

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Baba Gurmit Singh Ram Rahim of the Dera Sacha Sauda blew it when he dressed up like the 10th Patriarch of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh. The whole Indian state of Punjab quickly exploded into violence over it. You best not mess with the Sikhs where their religion is concerned.

The Baba had been expected to offer an apology, and he did... eventually. However, the Sikhs in charge are not satisfied with the contrition by press release:

Lashing out at the sect for their "indirect apology" over the row surrounding 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh, the Akal Takht said the Dera head was an "egoistic and shrewd person" to apologise through a press release.

But hey... we all sure know who Baba Gurmit Singh Ram Rahim and the Dera Sacha Sauda are now, which may have been his primary intention all along. Perhaps he was seeking to step himself up to Swam Ramdev, Sri Sri and Kracki levels of notoriety. If so, he got his wish. Too bad for him it's turned out to be more or less a death wish.

Sikh-Baiting Baba To Be Busted

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and The Siddhi of PR

Breakaway Sikh sect leader Gurmit Singh Ram Rahim is still in boiling hot water over his last month's dress-up-like-a-revered-spiritual-leader stunt that launched riots all over the Indian state of Punjab:

After the prosecution assured the court that permission would be formally sought from the state government, the Judge issued non-bailable warrants against Ram Raheem. The warrants are returnable by July 1.

Not that this really means anything. The last couple times they tried to arrest the Baba, the cops couldn't get to him through his protective throng of devotees.

Regardless, we can't get behind this particular course of action against the Baba. Sure, his little dress-up stunt led to widespread social unrest in a particularly restive state. But if a guy can't find a safe place to realize his higher sartorial aspirations, he needs to move to a place where he can. We suggest the Kracki's Oneness University as his first stop. They're used to people dressing up as God around there, and one more fake deity on top of the others isn't going to hurt anyone anymore than they've already been ruined by the bullshit being fed directly into their brains.

Sikh Paper Sneers About Dera Baba

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and The Siddhi of PR

This sneering editorializing about sartorial-blunder guru Gurmit Singh Ram Rahim appears to be presented as a legitimate news item in The Panthic Weekly:

In a country where the innocent are persecuted, and the guilty are sheltered, the controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief finally took a breath of relief as he was granted regular bail by a special CBI Court in Ambala this past week for his involvement in three highly publicized criminal cases. The lecherous saadh is undergoing a trial in two cases of murder and in one case of raping a saadhvi. The bail grant was criticized by Sikh organizations who blamed the Centre and the Indian Judiciary of shielding the rich and filthy with impunity.

Obviously, this was written by the employees of the Punjabi Railroad Express, who are providing the rails and locomotive to run the Baba right into a life sentence, trumped up charges aside, for little more than dressing up as a revered Sikh patriarch.

Extravagant Guru Pisses Off The Punjab

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Baba Gurmit Singh Ram Rahim is known to be a sartorial wonder of a guru, but lately he's taken it a step too far. The Baba has been dressing as the 10th Patriarch of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh. Usually, you just don't mess with the Sikhs, but when you claim to have 15 million devotees belonging to your cult, you'd probably feel empowered to do just about whatever you chose.

That didn't stop angry Sikh's from taking to the streets in riotous protest, nor did it stop the local authorities from launching an investigation into allegations of murder and a cover up. It seems the Baba has been taking liberties with the ladies.

But that could all be a politically-motivated frame-up. The Baba threw his weight behind the liberal Congress party in Febuary, which also pissed off the Sikhs, who have their own party in the Punjab.

It looks like the Baba blew it with the wrong folks to make angry, and right where they live. We're thinking a quick relocation may be in order, before the Baba finds himself forcibly relocated to the nearest funeral ghat.

Punjabi Supreme Court Still Trying To Spank Dera Baba

File under: Gurus Doin' Time, Hands Where They Don't Belong and The Siddhi of PR

Punjabi Sikh apostate guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim is still paying for his little sartorial stunt of May 2007, when he dressed himself up as the revered tenth guru of Sikhism, launching riots all across the Punjab in India. Apparently, it's been difficult to get any charges to stick, because here we are a year later and they're still trying to spank the man on the same sexual abuse charges they've been batting him around with since last year.

All we can say is it's a good thing Mike Myer's Pitka character in The Love Guru is depicted as a Hindu. Were he depicted to be a Sikh guru, those folks would be out there burning movie theaters in a pre-emptive strike against the film, rather than making the wishy-washy whining that's only made the movie more popular in these months leading up to its June 20th release.

Dera Baba Devotee's Flame Out

File under: Gurus Doin' Time

Four devotees of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh have killed themselves since he landed in hot water after performing the sartorial stunt of the century, which was to simply play dress up as the founder of the Sikh religion. From the sound of it, this latest casualty went out somewhat spectacularly:

A local shopkeeper near the deceased’s house said a burning Prabhjit came screaming out of the house. “We immediately ran towards her to douse the fire, but she fell unconscious...”

Not to make light of the poor girl's misfortune or that of her family, but there are much better reasons to kill yourself than over your grandstanding guru's legal troubles, some of which are perhaps the result of a railroading by the authorities, and all of which are definitely the result of a horrid miscalculation on the Baba's part.

Just kick the fool out of the Punjab and be done with it. He certainly earned that, despite the fact that his fashion crime wouldn't warrant the attention of a minimum wage shopping mall security guard here in the States.

While we don't condone the religious intolerance which flared as a result of the Baba's stunt, he certainly should have seen it coming. If he didn't, he's a tremendous fool who's paying for it now. If he did, he's a failed provocateur and should be happy to get out of this with his skin intact, rather than being immolated as his poor devotee in Bathinda has demonstrated for us this week.

The Punjab's Dera Baba In Another Blowup

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and The Siddhi of PR

He's the sartorial wonder blunder guru, accused of rape, murder and busted a number of times on various other charges in the Punjab, his devotees killing themselves over the trouble. And now, another death, this time at the hands of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's bodyguards:

The Dera chief got into a fresh row recently after a youth was killed and two others were injured when his bodyguard opened fire on Sikh protesters in Mumbai on June 20.

We've always wondered what the whole uproar over Singh's original sin – to dress in the style of the ancient patriarchs of Sikhism – was really all about. Could the "sin" actually be rooted in a class struggle precipitated by the Dera Sacha Sauda's popularity with India's poor and disenfranchised?

Free health and educational facilities attract the poor from all sects and cast to its fold. But, most importantly it appeared to be the identity crisis among the lower strata of society that helped Dera get a huge following. The neglected, looked down upon and alienated lower classes of different religions got an identity after coming to the Dera, say experts.

“The lower strata of society strive for an identity and that well explains the Dera Sacha Sauda mass base of landless laborers,” said Parmod Kumar, director of Chandigarh-based Institute of Development and Communication.

In this context, the hubbub over Singh's bad wardrobe decision makes a bit more sense. Was it about putting down the devotees as much as their leader and his org?