Dera Sacha case: BJP won’t boot out Manohar Lal Khattar despite rioting, deaths

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday ruled out the possibility of sacking Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar despite his failure to contain the violence in the state following the conviction and arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Friday. Pressure was  being mounted on the saffron central leadership in the wake of the violence unleashed by the cult leader’s supporters which left 36 dead and several injured.

In a meeting chaired by the BJP chief Amit Shah with BJP general secretary Haryana state unit Dr Anil Jain and senior leader Kailash Vijaivargiya, it has been decided that Mr Khattar will not be removed or summoned to Delhi for any clarifications.

The decision was taken as removing Mr Khattar would have provided a “major political handle” to the Opposistion, particularly Congress in the state. “The Prime Minister has made it clear that the party must not buckle under pressure to replace the chief minister,” a senior party official claimed.

Mr Khattar, a first-time MLA whose selection for the post of chief minister had raised many eyebrows in the party had earlier been accused of “messing up” things during the arrest of Baba Rampal and the Jat agitation. After these two incidents when the Khattar administration came under fire, demands were raised from within the BJP to replace him. However, the top brass of the party rejected the demands.

It was learnt also that a section in the party warned that replacing Mr Khattar could open up a can of worms since almost all the top saffron leadership including chief ministers were close to the cult leader. In fact Gurmeet Ram Rahim was also invited Delhi to attend a function organised by the Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari. Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s Dera Sacha Sauda with a strength of nearly one crore followers, mainly Dalit Sikhs, spread across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan was being wooed by the BJP before the 2014 general elections, sources said.  Before the 2014 elections the cult had openly announced their support for the BJP. Top BJP leaders ranging from Ms Vasundhara Raje, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Manoj Tiwari. Khattar, a number of BJP Haryana ministers have been known to be close to the godman, who now stands convicted of rape.

The Khattar government had exempted Ram Rahim’s movies — MSG The Warrior: Lion Heart and Hind Napak Ko Jawab-MSG-Lion Heart 2 from paying entertainment tax.

The Rajasthan government led by Ms Raje also toed a similar line by making his movies tax-free. Both these state government were “overwhelmed” by the social message in the  cult leader’s films. Incidentally, Gurmeet Ram Rahim was also provided Z-plus security, which was withdrawan only after his conviction and arrest on Friday.

Reports emnating from the state claimed that Haryana’s education minister Ram Bilas Sharma said last week that the Dera followers were peace-loving people. A few months ago the minister reportedly handed a cheque for `51 lakh to the Dera chief as a mark of support. As Panchkula and other parts of  Haryana burnt following the violence and mayhem unleashed by Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s followers, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj came out in his support and described him as a “noble soul”.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Mr Subramanian Swamy, without naming anyone, tweeted: “A new threat to Sadhus: Politicians& ashramites wanting to grab Ashram wealth by sending the Swamijis to jail. Sadhus must groom successors.”

Interestingly, as the media came under attack by Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s supporters and OB vans were set ablaze, the Information and Broadcasting minister on Thursday tweeted: “Drawing attention of News Channels to Clause B of Fundamental Std. of NBSA refraining channels from causing panic, distress & undue fear.” Later, Ms Irani took a U-turn and tweeted condemning the attack on the media: “Attack on media, damage to property condemnable. Appeal to all to maintain peace..” She chose to remain silent about the deaths.