Dera episode is a big blow to the image of the BJP: Haryana BJP leader

Veteran party leader ID Swami laments that the lack of proactive approach of the state machinery complicated the situation

Anguished by the political and administrative failure to tackle the Dera Sacha Sauda crowd that held the region hostage, veteran Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union minister of state for home, ID Swami, on Saturday described Panchkula violence a big blow to the party’s image.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. (HT photo)

“Things went bad, which brought a bad name to the party. The situation would have been different had the state authorities made efforts to stop Dera followers from entering Panchkula,” Swami, the bureaucrat-turned-politician who got a ministerial berth in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, told Hindustan Times.

Incidentally, the 87-year-old BJP leader, who is a key political advisor of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government, was the Sirsa deputy commissioner in 1980-85, when Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had succeeded Shah Satnam Singh Maharaj.

“I met him (Gurmeet) then when he became head of Dera.”

Lamenting that the lack of proactive approach of the state machinery complicated the situation, he said the ultimate outcome of the law and order situation would have been better had the police and bureaucracy acted tough in advance.

According to him, it was unthinkable that the “shrewd and wise” senior bureaucrats and police officers didn’t anticipate unfolding of a crisis. He said the bureaucrats must have informed in advance, and repeatedly, the government about the looming crisis. “They (bureaucrats) are very wise people, but all of them seem to have miscalculated,” he said.

The main lapse, according to Swami, was the government allowing Dera followers to assemble in Panchkula.

All the pockets of the Premis, as the Dera followers are known, should have been under surveillance and they should have been “persuaded and pressurised” against swarming Panchkula, he said.

“You cannot stop everyone, but there should be some deterrent. Handling fewer people would have made the emerging situation easier for the government,” he said.

“This proactive approach was missing. Restrictions were not imposed on movement of people. This big crowd should not have been allowed to gather,” he said.

Perhaps, he said, the authorities thought that the presence of police, paramilitary and army will deter Dera followers from engaging in violence. “You were left with no other option but to open fire. This assessment that the huge force on the ground will stop Premis in their tracks was a miscalculation. How can you control such a big crowd?” he said.

“If the crowd had been controlled sooner, there would not have been so much violence(agar jaldi crowd control kar lete to itni badnami na hoti),” he said.