Ram Rahim collected money from devotees in various ways

Sirsa,
A large number of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s devotees are disillusioned with his ways and their faith has been completely shattered after his conviction in two rape cases.

The Tribune has spoken to dera followers in Sirsa and a majority of them believe that a large number of those, who used to visit the dera before Ram Rahim’s conviction, are unlikely to return.

“We had started realising during the past few years that the ways of Ram Rahim were unbecoming of a saint. Not only his newfound love for film-making, singing and dancing dressed as a rock star was embarrassing for us as his disciples, but also his relationship with Honeypreet was difficult to believe,” says a Sirsa resident whose family has been following the dera for the past 60 years.

He says his family did not quit the dera before Ram Rahim’s conviction as they did not want to be singled out. Moreover, women in their family had deep faith in Ram Rahim and considered him God.

“But when they heard that Ram Rahim stood with folded hands before the judge before his conviction praying for mercy and cried like a child after his sentencing, their faith in his divine powers was shattered,” he says.

He adds Ram Rahim’s relation with Honeypreet had resulted in a conflict in their family. “My son Jasmeet was not on talking terms with the dera head for past many months and my daughters and sons-in-law also supported my son in this regard,” he says.

Another devotee, who has been following the dera since Shah Satnam Singh’s time, rues Gurmeet had turned the dera into a big business venture that Shah Mastana ji had set up for the welfare of humanity.

The premi says every devotee was supposed to donate Rs 1 every day to the dera. “I have four members in my family. I was supposed to keep Rs 4 per day aside for the dera and donate the money the day I visited it. Presuming that the dera had 6 crore devotees, as Ram Rahim claimed, he collected Rs 180 crore per month from small donations alone,” he adds.

Premis told The Tribune that three year ago, district and block heads of the dera were told to collect a booking amount in advance for a ‘granth’ (holy book) being penned by Ram Rahim and priced at Rs 2,500 a copy.

“Over 6 lakh granths were booked that year. I and my brother paid Rs 2,500 each. While that granth is yet to reach people, we were told that the price of the granth this year has been fixed at Rs 6,100 per copy. Though we did not book our copies this time, many others paid money,” he says.

Another method devised to dupe people of money was to collect Rs 50 per devotee to create a fund of Rs 300 crore for the “welfare of poor”.

“However, this proved a non-starter as Ram Rahim was jailed before collections could start,” he adds.