Gurmeet Ram Rahim's followers have been provided clean drinking water, meals and even umbrellas.
The verdict in the rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is out and the CBI court has found him guilty of raping two women followers in 2002. He has been taken into custody and will be sentenced on Monday. His followers, at least a lakh in Panchkula, wept, some fainted, as they waited for the verdict, have been told to clear the area.
After their arrival in the city from different parts of Punjab, Haryana and even Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, they have made parks, roads, areas under flyovers their temporary homes. They have been sleeping near the highway outside the town, spreading tarpaulins on the ground. There are no toilets, so they have been using petrol stations, hidden corners, roadsides and also the banks of a river nearby.
In a video message at midnight, Ram Rahim had appealed to his followers to disperse and return home, and urged them to keep calm. However, his devotees won't budge as they didn't want to miss out on the opportunity of meeting him. The followers left their homes not knowing when they would be back, so packing huge supplies of food, water was out of question. So who is providing for them? Their guru as well as his followers in the city.
The Dera has made all necessary arrangements for the followers - from clean drinking water and meals to tents and umbrellas. At different times during the day, the devotees could be seen sitting in neat lines for the langar served by Dera.
The sect claims to have 50 million followers around the world, and regularly conducts mass camps to donate blood and plant trees as also meditation courses online. It has also funded and constructed hostels for young girls and hospitals and helped with the rehabilitation of sex workers.