Two million Dera followers in UK

Sant Ramanand and Niranjan Dass, who were attacked in Vienna visited Ravidas gurudwara in Newham London frequently.

Outside India, their biggest following is in Britain -- a rich source of funding for the Dera.

Their clout is obvious from this. Mayawati visited this gurudwara and stayed for 5 days.

Says T R bali, president of Gurudwara Ravidas Newham: "We have 35 gurudwaras all over Europe with about 2 and a half million followers. Most of them are from the Dalit community who migrated from areas in and around jalandhar where they were in professions like leather cleaning."

From this variation of the Sikh religious chant and slogan to the fact that they revere and touch the feet of their Dera leaders when Sikhs are supposed to bow only in front of the holy book to the flag atop their place of worship, the differences in the Dera's religious practices have aggravated many Sikhs.

This is not the first time Dera leaders have been targeted abroad. In the 80s, another Dera leader Darshan Dass was killed by two Sikh extremists, who violently disagreed with the Dera's practices, which they treated as provocative and insulting to the Sikhs. They were both convicted and given life sentences.

This sect, praying for the recovery of Niranjan Dass, also plan to hold peace marches in Britain to appeal for calm.