Guru Ravidas And His Significance In Punjab Polls Explained

The Punjab election contest played out 1,000 km away in Uttar Pradesh today as political leaders visited the birthplace of 15th-century Dalit icon, Guru Ravidas, in Varanasi.

At the Seer Goverdhanpur temple for the poet and social reformer in Varanasi, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was among the first visitors; he arrived at 4 am. He was followed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh also visited the shrine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited a Ravidas temple in Delhi and even participated in a "Shabad kirtan"; he shared a video in which he played the traditional kartal during a bhajan. Later, he referred to the saint again during a rally at Pathankot in Punjab. "Today is the anniversary of Sant Ravidas-ji. Before coming here I went to the Ravidas Mandir in Delhi and took his blessings. Many devotees from Punjab have gone to Varanasi. Yogi and I have done our best to ensure all facilities for devotees. We have run two special trains. As an MP of Benaras, I have ensured that devotees don't face problems," he said.

The influence of the Ravidas community in Punjab politics can be gauged by the fact that all parties jointly demanded that polls be deferred by a week to enable the pilgrimage.

Here is your 5-point guide to Guru Ravidas and the significance of his birth anniversary:  

1. Guru Ravidas, believed to have been born to a cobbler in Seer Goverdhanpur village near Varanasi, founded the Ravidassia religion. A Dalit community, Ravidassias are concentrated in Punjab's Doaba region. Their most prominent dera, Dera Sachkhand Ballan, has 20 lakh followers worldwide.
2. Following an attack in 2009 by Sikh radical groups on a temple of Guru Ravidas in Vienna that killed a top Dera leader, the Dera announced to sever ties with Sikhism and said it will now follow the Ravidassia religion. The Guru Granth Sahib was replaced by Amritbani, which has 200 hymns of Guru Ravidas, in the religion's places of worship.
3. Dalits account for about 32 per cent of the population in Punjab and Ravidassias form an influential chunk of it. This makes the community key in state elections. It was against this backdrop that the Congress appointed Mr Channi, who is from the Ramdasia Sikh community that is aligned to the Ravidasias, as Punjab's first Dalit Chief Minister. 
4. Mindful of the impact a consolidation of Dalit votes in Punjab can have on election results, political parties leave no stone unturned to reach out to the community. Mr Channi's dawn visit to the Varanasi temple and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's kirtan at a Delhi temple of the 14th century reformer are significant against this backdrop. 
5. Earlier attempts by political parties to secure Dalit votes in Punjab have seen little success. Kanshi Ram, founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party, now led by Mayawati, had attempted it, but managed to get along only Ramdasia Sikhs - a community he belonged to - and Ravidassias. Deep caste faultlines fuelled by a history of conflict and pending court cases related to reservations have been the obstacles.