Punjab Cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. (Source: YouTube screengrab)
Amid the Dera Sach Sauda controversy, Punjab Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot admitted that he went to dera to seek votes, and will go again for the same purpose if needed.
Arguing that dera and its chief had their importance, he said: “Jithe tak Ram Rahim da sawal hai, asin political adami hun election vich fasse hunde han, main bhi gaya see vote lain dere vich , shayad agge bhi janwan (As far as Ram Rahim is concerned, we are political people tied to elections and in the run up to the polls, even I went to dera to seek votes and perhaps I will go in the future too),” said the minister while replying to a question regarding dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
The minister was in Phagwara on Sunday to attend a function organised by Sri Ram Naumi Utsav Committee and he also met few journalists at a place of a Congress leader in Jalandhar.
About closing deras in Punjab, he said it was not possible to shut so many deras in the state. “The need is to make improvement instead throwing anyone,” he said, adding that there was nothing wrong in going to a dera.
“I just want to say that everyone has the right to run any religious place, as people have great faith in them, in a right manner without compromising the integrity of the country and some corrective measures should be taken instead putting a ban on them,” he said.
