Faith, votes and power: How Deras could shape Punjab's 2027 verdict
PM Narendra Modi's recent visit to Dera Sachkhand Ballan, where he highlighted Guru Ravidas's teachings on equality and harmony, is being seen as a major outreach to the Ravidassia community in Punjab's Doaba region, which influences about 19 Assembly seats.
The high-profile visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Budget Day to Dera Sachkhand Ballan, a key Ravidassia centre, for the 649th Guru Ravidas Jayanti celebrations has made the Dera a cynosure to all eyes. The visit has sent a strong message among the Dalit population across Punjab. The state has a formidable 32 per cent Dalit population and plays a pivotal role in its politics.
The BJP has tried to cash in on being the early bird in the state, which has been largely elusive to it as far as poll victory is concerned. Their only stake in power has been largely in partnership with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) during 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-17, where the BJP served as a junior partner.
The alliance, however, broke down after SAD walked out on the BJP over the three farm laws that were passed by the NDA government in Centre in 2020. Since then, the BJP has tried to carve its own path in Punjab, but it has been an uphill task.
PM Modi's visit to Dera Ballan, where he highlighted Guru Ravidas’s teachings on equality and harmony, is being seen as a major outreach to the Ravidassia community in Doaba, which influences about 19 Assembly seats. However, political analysts believe that the 'saffron party' has not been able to make inroads into the Dalit stronghold yet.
The party has been trying to shed its image as the coalition partner of SAD by not only inducting Sikh leaders, but also apparently by maintaining close ties with Deras for their perceived influence.
Many Deras in Punjab publicly claim to be apolitical and assert that they focus solely on spiritual guidance, social welfare, equality, and devotion. In reality, however, they wield significant political influence, particularly in fragmented caste-based voting, especially among Dalit communities.
The two largest segments are Ravidassia with 14 percent and an equal proportion of the Balmiki community. Both play a key role in vote swings, with an estimate stating that Ravidassia have erstwhile voted for the likes of Congress. Meanwhile, Balmiki votes, which have been largely scattered, helped the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) surge ahead of the curve in the 2022 Punjab Assembly election.
Drawing lessons from neighbouring Haryana, the BJP is attempting a fresh exercise in social engineering to gain electoral traction and this is where deras come in handy.
PM MODI'S OUTREACH
Radha Soami Satsang Beas (Dera Beas): PM Modi visited in November 2022, meeting head Gurinder Singh Dhillon and spending about an hour.
PM Modi often visits related sites like Seer Govardhanpur – Guru Ravidas’s birthplace in Varanasi annually, but the 2026 Ballan visit stood out for its timing and political symbolism.
However, it is not just the Prime Minister who has made such visits. Leaders across party lines, including Rahul Gandhi, have also made a beeline to prominent deras over the years.
RAHUL GANDHI'S VISITS
March 2016: Met Gurinder Singh Dhillon at his residence in Beas (Amritsar district), discussing issues such as the drug menace in Punjab.
December 2016: Stayed overnight at the dera headquarters with then Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh and attended a religious congregation.
January 2017: During his Punjab tour, Rahul met Sant Niranjan Dass in a closed-door meeting to seek blessings.
Several other Congress leaders have also been regular visitors.
KEJRIWAL'S DERA VISITS
Radha Soami Satsang Beas (Dera Beas): AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal visited in September 2016, ahead of the 2017 Punjab polls, meeting Gurinder Singh Dhillon for over 30 minutes to discuss Punjab’s political scenario and seek blessings. He also visited the dera’s Delhi branch.
Dera Sachkhand Ballan: Kejriwal, along with now-CM Bhagwant Mann, visited in March 2016. More recently, in March 2023, as part of AAP’s outreach, the duo undertook a visit during which they handed over funds for a Guru Ravidas research centre.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC leader, has also made frequent visits to Punjab-based deras, and to social events in recent times, often wearing a turban, projecting Haryana’s governance model while criticising the AAP.
RAM RAHIM'S INFLUENCE
With strong influence in Punjab’s Malwa region, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim has received frequent parole and furlough releases since his 2017 conviction. He was awarded a 20-year sentence for raping two of his disciples and a life term for the murder of a journalist.
However, as of February 2026, he has been granted temporary release 15 times, spending over 400 days outside prison across more than eight years of his sentence, including a 40-day parole in January 2026.
While there are hundreds of deras stretched across the length and breadth of Punjab, informal reports say there are as many as 9,000 deras across 13,000 villages. However, a formal estimate says there are close to 100 Deras with several branches spread to villages. Only half a dozen of them are considered to have a pan-Punjab impact.
In early 2017, ahead of the Punjab polls, several Sikh politicians, mainly from SAD-BJP alliance, but also from Congress and AAP, visited Dera Sacha Sauda to seek votes and blessings from its followers. This violated the 2007 Akal Takht directive banning any political, religious, or social ties with the dera or its head.
In April 2017, the five Sikh high priests formally summoned 44 Sikh leaders (29 from SAD, 14 from Congress, 1 from AAP) to appear before Akal Takht. Of the 44 summoned, about 39 appeared, with the Akal Takht declaring them 'tankhaiya'.
The high-profile visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Budget Day to Dera Sachkhand Ballan, a key Ravidassia centre, for the 649th Guru Ravidas Jayanti celebrations has made the Dera a cynosure to all eyes. The visit has sent a strong message among the Dalit population across Punjab. The state has a formidable 32 per cent Dalit population and plays a pivotal role in its politics.
The BJP has tried to cash in on being the early bird in the state, which has been largely elusive to it as far as poll victory is concerned. Their only stake in power has been largely in partnership with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) during 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-17, where the BJP served as a junior partner.
The alliance, however, broke down after SAD walked out on the BJP over the three farm laws that were passed by the NDA government in Centre in 2020. Since then, the BJP has tried to carve its own path in Punjab, but it has been an uphill task.
PM Modi's visit to Dera Ballan, where he highlighted Guru Ravidas’s teachings on equality and harmony, is being seen as a major outreach to the Ravidassia community in Doaba, which influences about 19 Assembly seats. However, political analysts believe that the 'saffron party' has not been able to make inroads into the Dalit stronghold yet.
The party has been trying to shed its image as the coalition partner of SAD by not only inducting Sikh leaders, but also apparently by maintaining close ties with Deras for their perceived influence.
Many Deras in Punjab publicly claim to be apolitical and assert that they focus solely on spiritual guidance, social welfare, equality, and devotion. In reality, however, they wield significant political influence, particularly in fragmented caste-based voting, especially among Dalit communities.
The two largest segments are Ravidassia with 14 percent and an equal proportion of the Balmiki community. Both play a key role in vote swings, with an estimate stating that Ravidassia have erstwhile voted for the likes of Congress. Meanwhile, Balmiki votes, which have been largely scattered, helped the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) surge ahead of the curve in the 2022 Punjab Assembly election.
Drawing lessons from neighbouring Haryana, the BJP is attempting a fresh exercise in social engineering to gain electoral traction and this is where deras come in handy.
PM MODI'S OUTREACH
Radha Soami Satsang Beas (Dera Beas): PM Modi visited in November 2022, meeting head Gurinder Singh Dhillon and spending about an hour.
PM Modi often visits related sites like Seer Govardhanpur – Guru Ravidas’s birthplace in Varanasi annually, but the 2026 Ballan visit stood out for its timing and political symbolism.
However, it is not just the Prime Minister who has made such visits. Leaders across party lines, including Rahul Gandhi, have also made a beeline to prominent deras over the years.
RAHUL GANDHI'S VISITS
March 2016: Met Gurinder Singh Dhillon at his residence in Beas (Amritsar district), discussing issues such as the drug menace in Punjab.
December 2016: Stayed overnight at the dera headquarters with then Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh and attended a religious congregation.
January 2017: During his Punjab tour, Rahul met Sant Niranjan Dass in a closed-door meeting to seek blessings.
Several other Congress leaders have also been regular visitors.
KEJRIWAL'S DERA VISITS
Radha Soami Satsang Beas (Dera Beas): AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal visited in September 2016, ahead of the 2017 Punjab polls, meeting Gurinder Singh Dhillon for over 30 minutes to discuss Punjab’s political scenario and seek blessings. He also visited the dera’s Delhi branch.
Dera Sachkhand Ballan: Kejriwal, along with now-CM Bhagwant Mann, visited in March 2016. More recently, in March 2023, as part of AAP’s outreach, the duo undertook a visit during which they handed over funds for a Guru Ravidas research centre.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC leader, has also made frequent visits to Punjab-based deras, and to social events in recent times, often wearing a turban, projecting Haryana’s governance model while criticising the AAP.
RAM RAHIM'S INFLUENCE
With strong influence in Punjab’s Malwa region, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim has received frequent parole and furlough releases since his 2017 conviction. He was awarded a 20-year sentence for raping two of his disciples and a life term for the murder of a journalist.
However, as of February 2026, he has been granted temporary release 15 times, spending over 400 days outside prison across more than eight years of his sentence, including a 40-day parole in January 2026.
While there are hundreds of deras stretched across the length and breadth of Punjab, informal reports say there are as many as 9,000 deras across 13,000 villages. However, a formal estimate says there are close to 100 Deras with several branches spread to villages. Only half a dozen of them are considered to have a pan-Punjab impact.
In early 2017, ahead of the Punjab polls, several Sikh politicians, mainly from SAD-BJP alliance, but also from Congress and AAP, visited Dera Sacha Sauda to seek votes and blessings from its followers. This violated the 2007 Akal Takht directive banning any political, religious, or social ties with the dera or its head.
In April 2017, the five Sikh high priests formally summoned 44 Sikh leaders (29 from SAD, 14 from Congress, 1 from AAP) to appear before Akal Takht. Of the 44 summoned, about 39 appeared, with the Akal Takht declaring them 'tankhaiya'.