Opinion Baba vs State

The days-long standoff in Barwala, Hisar, has been a sorry, sobering spectacle. With a heavily fortified ashram as its centre, it has featured, on one side, a self-styled godman gone missing, his private militia which calls itself the “Baba’s commandos”, women and children used as human shields, and supporters who brandish firearms, petrol bombs, acid pouches and stones. On the other side of the battlelines, an apparently helpless state government and an increasingly indignant judiciary — Baba Rampal, accused in a murder case, is defying non-bailable warrants issued against him by the court. How did things build up to such a pass that lives have been lost in the stand-off? How could a cult be allowed to so flagrantly mock the rule of law and taunt the state? Long after the showdown is over, these questions will haunt the newly elected Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana.

While the Khattar government must be held squarely accountable for the farce that has unfolded in Barwala, a broader culture of impunity and complicity is responsible for the phenomenon of the larger-than-law “dera” becoming a centre of affluence and influence, almost a state within the state, in Punjab and Haryana. The deras’ appeal is a mix of many factors — they are known to draw followers from lower caste and class groups who feel marginalised and disempowered by the mainstream religion and sect, who are attracted to the dera’s claims to social reform, or those to whom it extends a helping hand in the form of de-addiction camps or free medical care. The authoritative prescriptions and injunctions of the baba or guru, the sect’s presiding deity, can be seductive for those looking for certainty and succour in an age of anxiety. But all too often, this story gets murkier. Once they gain a following, many of these sects become power centres in their own right. Several self-styled godmen who head them face charges of rape, kidnapping and murder and many are known to strike deals with political parties at election-time. The party seeks to borrow their popular appeal while the sect looks for validation by the state.

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There have been similar stand-offs earlier and the rule of law will eventually triumph in Hisar as well. But Chief Minister Khattar must know that every moment of the showdown has taken a toll on the authority of the state and of his government. When the self-styled godman positions himself above the law, the state can ill afford to dither or appear to do so.