Tags:
Journalism of Courage
It8217;s the last place you8217;d expect to see such a smart building. Tall and stately, it shoots up from the sand dunes, an eye-catching contrast to the dull brown countryside overgrown with straggly vegetation. Welcome to the Baba Bhag Singh Institute of Engineering at Khiala village, yet another miracle wrought by the holy men of Doaba8212;the region in and around Jalandhar. From building bridges, roads, colleges and hospitals to making or breaking candidates, they do it all.
Sitting in his multi-speciality SGL charitable hospital in the heart of Jalandhar with a gunman outside, Baba Kashmira Singh, chief of the Sant Samaj, claims he can tilt at least 3 lakh votes. 8216;8216;That8217;s my vote bank,8217;8217; says the tall snowy-haired Baba, who is known to issue edicts for or against candidates. Baba8217;s influence stems from his array of charitable works. One is the SGL hospital, which conducts free dialysis and mammography, besides running mobile dispensaries that cover 480 villages every month. This is not all. The baba also runs a hospital near Subhanpur on GT Road to handle accident cases besides being associated with several educational institutions like Baba Aya Singh Riarki College where the students are teachers as well. And as for his hold, just note the way people pussyfoot around him.
Far from the city, Baba Malkiat Singh8217;s writ runs in the countryside bordering Hoshiarpur. This 40-something school dropout, who operates from his dera at Manco village, dreams of turning this sandy stretch into a centre of education.
Last year, he set up the Baba Bhag Singh engineering college which attracts students from as far as Delhi and Chattisgarh, this year it8217;s the turn of an international school, and next in queue is a medical institute. All spread over 125 acres across Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts. Showing you around the state-of-the-art classes equipped with LCD screens and computers, registrar G L Arora says the Baba personally visited a slew of top-notch engineering colleges before shopping for his Institute.
But the bridgewala baba as he8217;s fondly called8212;he8217;s built a dozen bridges in this area8212;claims he8217;s not really interested in politics. 8216;8216;I always elect God,8217;8217; he smiles, adding how he8217;s yet to get a voter I-card made.
But he sure has some politically-inclined followers. Chief among them is former CM and SAD B chief Parkash Singh Badal, whose photo graces the college brochure. The baba also makes no bones about his fondness for former PM I K Gujral, whose son Naresh is now contesting from Jalandhar. 8216;8216;He laid the foundation stone of our international school,8217;8217; he flashes another picture.
Back in the city, Swami Mohan Dass is known for his proximity to BJP8217;s Vasundhra Raje Scindia though politicians of all hues also beat a path to his CCTV-studded ashram. Lately, it8217;s been the turn of rivals Rana Gurjeet, the Congress candidate, and Naresh Gujral, the SAD-BJP man from Jalandhar. The 85-year-old Swami, who runs a school and an orphanage besides conducting immensely popular yoga-meditation camps, says he blesses them all. But his favourite disciples continue to be none other than
L K Advani and Uma Bharti. Saffron is also the colour that Sant Balbir Singh of Seechewal village likes to wear. Reverently called the Sadkanwalla baba because of the many roads he8217;s built in the sandy dunes of Kapurthala district, he8217;s also the one-man army behind the Rs 1-crore cleanup of Kali Bein, the rivulet after a dip in which Guru Nanak is said to have attained nirvana.
The Baba, who8217;s had several run-ins with the Akali-backed Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, fielded his own candidate in the last Parliamentary elections. 8216;8216;I wanted to teach someone a lesson,8217;8217; he says darkly, telling you how the 12,000 votes that his candidate polled resulted in the defeat of his rival.
This time, however, he8217;s keeping his cards close. 8216;8216;All the candidates are making a beeline for my dera8230;let8217;s see what happens,8217;8217; he signs off, a Mona Lisa smile in place.
