Rampal the fallen 'god' of Barwala

Satguru Rampalji Maharaj, leader of one of the nearly 100 deras (ashrams, cults) that dot rural Haryana and Punjab, told his followers that he was Nostradamus's prediction come true: "The great Chyren will be chief of the world/Loved feared and unchallenged, even at the death/His name and praise will reach beyond the skies/And he will be content to be known only as Victor."

That victor tasted defeat on November 19 in Hisar. And "Barwala's Chyren" is right now cooling his heels in jail for waging war against the state and on charges of murder, sediton and conspiracy. Rampal and his cult followers held the 5,000-strong armed policemen of Haryana at bay for five days in a hold-out that surprised the country and pointed to the dangers of cults.

Rampal's cult has had a cataclysmic end like most cults do. But the question is how do such cults gain ground and why are the poor drawn to them? The dera leaders are a variation of India's godmen because they hold their supporters in thrall, mostly confine them to fortified ashrams and like most cults have deviant sexual practices (incest, polygamy, orgies), miracles and a religious mumbo-jumbo which is often a variation of known religious texts. In the west subverted texts of christianity are used, here Hinduism and in the case of Rampal, anti-Arya Samaj.

These half-baked philsophies are then sold to the gullible. In all such deras, the magnetism and healing powers of the leader is basic to its success. "Let me confess, he is more intelligent than Ravana. He can beat the best of sants in discourse. I have been to a couple of his satsangs, and without doubt he is more intelligent than Ravana," said a Haryana police sub-inspector who is a devotee.

The poor who flock to these ashrams get a sense of possessing a different identity to that of the castes they mostly belong to (dalits, mahadalits etc) and see powerful leaders as their protectors. The other well-known cult leader in nearby Sirsa, Ram Singh,who runs Dera Sacha Sauda, two weeks back cleaned the streets of Mumbai with hundreds of his followers most of whom are scheduled caste Sikhs. The sense of alternate identity, outside of the mainstream religion and society where they are ill treated, is a big attraction for the poor to join these deras. They get a new identity and a new god.

Rampal and Ram Singh who is also a singer and performer, have both almost similar qualities. Rampal is charismatic. He has a way with words. He is capable of mesmerising the gullible. He is arrogant to a fault. He is associated with cult-traits like brainwashing, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and a multitude of criminal activities. His followers are ready to give up their lives for him.

They attribute to him divine powers. "He can drive even Yamdoot away" is quite the belief among them. "Mark my words. Maharaj Rampal will return unscathed," 24-year-old Laxman Pawar of Yawatmal, Maharashtra, told dna. "Yeh bolna bhi galat hai. Woh bhagwan hain. (It is wrong to even say he is a murderer. He is god)"

The Jats of Barwala nurse a visceral hatred for Rampal. Their gravest charge: Rampal is a womaniser. And stories that the cult leader was holding "women nude" like cattle in a pen, flew thick and fast outside Satlok Ashram. When dna put the question to IG Anil Kumar, he said: "When the women came out they were dressed, what happened inside could be another story."

Tripti, a 31-year-old from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, however, told dna that Rampal is no womaniser. "That is a lie, that he kept women hostage in the nude, that we were sexually abused. He was very good to all of us. We were separated from our menfolk, but only a three-foot wall stood between us. Rampalji Maharaj is divine, and understanding, very humble."

The Jats of Barwala, and some among the policemen, also speak of Rampal's charisma, that seizes men and women. His devotees' faith in Rampal is complete. Sociologist and professor in JNU, Sanjay Srivasta, says he would agree that Rampal was in many ways a cult leader. "He is charismatic, had a one-to-one relationship with his followers, who were willing to commit themselves to him in a fuller way than they would to others. There is a notion of sacrifice involved, and they were committed to make those sacrifices," Srivastav told dna, adding that violence was also part of the one-to-one relationship resulting out of intense devotion to one person.

During the siege six ashram inmates died apparently due to natural causes. Four other deaths are believed to have happened in the ashram over the years. For his followers all that is a lie and conspiracy hatched by "people who do not know him."

Thirteen-year-old Anish is one of them. For him the "Baba" is invincible. "I like him. He is very good," he said, waiting to board a train to Delhi with his parents, Ashok and Mamata. "I like the kheer served at the ashram." Rampal's kheer is in fact the talk of Barwala. "He laces the kheer with something that keeps people happy, content. And the kheer is served with breakfast, lunch and dinner," said ta villager of Barwala.

Ashok, who is a businessman in Betul in Madhya Pradesh, rubbishes such charges. He is adamant that nobody from the ashram indulged in violence. "It is the police," he says, and would not listen to reason, when told that 85 policemen were lying injured in Agresan Hospital in Hisar.

Among Rampal's acclaimed powers is curing cancer, and treating kidney-failure without medicines. Wahid Khan of Mehgaon, Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, said, "Both my kidneys failed. I went to AIIMS in Delhi but did not have money, so I returned home. Then somebody told me 'God has come to Barwala in Haryana'. So I came to Barwala on July 27, 2009 and fell at Rampalji Maharaj's feet and both my kidneys were back to working condition."

Such stories abound, and are music to the ears of the poor and impoverished. Curiously, none of his devotees knew of the violence unleashed by Rampal's private army of commandos. All of them say they were inside with Rampal, and did not know what happened outside. "There is no private army. Koi commando-wommando nahi hai," Govind Baburao Kendre from Latur, Maharashtra, told dna, adding that talk of bunkers inside the ashram was all lies spread by the police.

But violence is a cult characteristic. Every deviant cult leader displays a streak of violence. Rampal is no exception. He had an army of highly-trained commandos at his beck and call. And he used them to the hilt when the police laid his ashram under siege.The "commandos" used bullets, stones, acid and petrol to send the police scurrying. Over a 100 policemen were injured.

A commando-type of devotee dna met was Shailendra Kumar Das of Noida. Sporting a tracksuit, 24-year-old Das, wiry and muscle-bound, said he has been coming to Barwala since 2009. "On November 7, I got a direct order from Guruji to come to the ashram dressed in all black. So, I came. Gurjui has commandos to protect him, I know eight of them had licensed guns," Das told dna.

Now Barwala and Haryana is one godman less. But like the fields of the state, the ground too is fertile for another godman to arrive with a new philosophy and new promises. The poor are waiting.