Revered Guru Ji Inagurated 21st Mega Cleanliness Earth Campaign at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

It was a working day. A Tuesday. Even before the sun was up, the followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda had already been up and about their long awaited business. It was a festival of cleanliness. Soon tea was being readied for distribution to all on the streets outside the DLF building. Many Dera followers had reached there the night before and had slept on the pedestrian walk. The central park at Connaught Circus, was packed with young enthusiasts who had assembled a night before for the drive. Restless, before the task, as all young are prone to be, and yet bound by a value of discipline inculcated in them by their Guru, His Holiness Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan. The elders on the other hand sat silent as they waited patiently for Guruji to arrive and flag off the event. The ladies who had even brought their young ones along seemed cheery and bright as they sat with brooms in their hands. Also, there were women with babies in arms who were as enthusiastic as the rest. It was an unusual sight. As the sun dawned upon the glorious capital city of India, it revealed what the day had in store for all. Anxious faces, walking in the park at Jantar Mantar, peering time and again at their watches, enquiring after each other and their loved ones. News of hundreds of thousands of volunteers stranded on the outskirts of Delhi due to 'no entry' started to filter in. Yet, there was no impatience, not even a hint of protest. Ironically, in a country where people are not penalized for littering, people who wanted to clean up needed 'permissions'. By 6:30 am, Jantar Mantar was packed with, volunteers, followers, security personnel, the media and curious onlookers. The devotees that had been stopped outside were upset but bowed their heads in compliance. The media had arrived and was busy setting up their equipment. The Green S Wing , the specialized disaster relief volunteers of Dera Sacha Sauda, had turned up full force for the event of the year . They sat down in rows and waited patiently for the arrival of His Holiness, listening to motley announcements. Soon the atmosphere was rent with deafening cries of Dhan Dhan Satguru Tera Hi Asra, a signal that marked the arrival of Guruji. After Guruji mounted the dais and inaugurated the event by releasing balloons to symbolize the freedom to live in surroundings that are clean, and the opportunity for every soul, to fly unencumbered in its spiritual progress. In His short preamble, Guruji said that the pollution in the environment was polluting the stream of thought as well. And more visibly, it was causing deadly illnesses. It was a moving sight as Guruji accompanied by His aged mother, Mata Nasib Kaur Insan, swept the road and finally signaled the followers to get down to action, immediately. The crowds jostled as thousands of feet departed in different directions, and thousands of brooms swished. Many had tears in their eyes as they set their eyes upon their Guru, sweeping diligently to inpire by the force of example. After flagging off the event , Guruji requested the media to put up their questions one by one. The first question was about the cleanliness drive. Guruji explained that outward cleansing was the stepping stone to inner cleansing, of bad thoughts and evil impulses. Secondly, India had fallen prey to pandemics of various serious diseases. He stressed upon the fact that the West looks towards India for Spiritual satisfaction, but often referred to India as 'that dirty country,' something which upset Guruji no end. He wanted the west to stop making fun of India as a dirty country and also wanted to inculcate the value of hygiene and educate the masses about clean living, hence the drive.

Advocating new laws to curb insanitation:

Guruji said that it was imperative to impose a challan and a fine on all those found littering, citing the example of Singapore. Guruji said that one or two challans would suffice to change the way most people treat the environs. Likewise, even the justifiable cutting of trees needed a compensation of the plantation and upkeep of 10 to 15 times the number of trees.

Novel measure to enforce behaviour change amongst people spreading insanitation:

Another active measure being undertaken by Dera Sacha Sauda was that the volunteers were going around asking the citizenry to fill up and sign written pledges to maintain cleanliness. This had a huge impact on the ones who agreed to fill up since the commitment made concrete on paper helped their resolve become stronger and more conscientious. Guruji cited the example of people who influenced by the Dera, pledged not to offer bribes, and said that it was indeed ushering change even in day to day situations as some ticket examiners from the railways were so moved that they pledged to follow suit. When asked if his cleanliness drives were because he thought the concerned authorities were not carrying out their duties properly, Guruji replied that even if the authorities were making all out efforts to maintain cleanliness, the tendency of society was such that all their efforts would soon go to naught as we are in the habit of littering without thinking. Such irresponsible thinking would definitely reflect badly on the part of the authorities. Through his drives, He was therefore consciously trying to educate our society our society to be responsible and act wisely, if they wished to live in clean cities with healthy environments. Shunning Polythene: Guru said that worn out clothes could be easily and inexpensively converted into bags and they would be an extremely safe and eco-friendly option to carry shopping stuff.

On Godmen dabbling in politics

A new suggestion for electoral reforms:

Frustrated as Indians are by the markedly high levels of corruption, the media asked Guruji a variety of questions pertaining to the current state of Indian polity and the way a cleanup could be effectively done. While Guruji kept away from commenting on the present state of affairs, He did offer an important suggestion on how the mood of the people could be captured. His Holiness suggested that an option could be added while voting, that could ask for either the President's rule or even the Supreme Court. Such a change could atleast help gauge the public perception on what people actually want. Answering another question about the cleaning of the Yamuna river, and extending his cleanliness drive to other cities of India, Guruji said that the Yamuna Project was in the pipeline and the authorities were being requested for a long time; hopefully, it would happen soon as for other cities of India. He added that volunteers who had reached even the remotest areas for the campaign, would spend money from their own pocket and hired vehicles and bore every expense upon their individual self. Answering another question he humbly replied that the strength of the volunteers grew with each city and for this he gave the credit to God and thanked his followers for their love and support. He added that this drive was expected to draw volunteers numbering 5-7 lacs and many volunteers were stuck on the outskirts. Replying to a question about the gruesome Delhi rape case, he said that an act of evil never went unpunished by the almighty. Therefore one must always think and act wisely. A question regarding the involvement of a godman in a recent allegation that launched a nationwide agitation , Guruji reflected that one must never be hasty in their judgment of people and indeed if the allegations against the said godman were proved , then indeed it was a matter of shame and the godman deserved to be shunned and punished. He also cited the example of a society that was succumbing to the charms of easy money and would not hesitate to implicate anyone falsely for their own vested interest. He said that a Saint was sent to do good selflessly and only good as that was the true religion of a saint. He asked the media to await the court's verdict.

On UP riots:

Guruji said that it was the masterminds who were conspiring unchecked, who caused the gullible people to fight amongst themselves. It was this conspiratorial class whose nefarious designs needed to be defeated. Guruji sang a couple of lines from His bestselling album INSAN to send a message of peace to UP,"Neither Hindu, nor Sikh nor Muslim is bad,the person who stoops to commit sins, alone is bad". Guruji appealed to people not to fall prey rumours and to those instigating trouble.

On stopping crimes against women:

Guruji said that He had been advocating the stoppage of female feticide or sex selective abortions for the last twenty years. Guruji said that the record was available for perusal, where he had foreseen such criminality and dastardly crimes, and cautioned people against the ill-effects of skewed sex ratios. The second major flaw that Guruji pointed out was that the present education system was only geared to creating money making automatons. Professional stream that could be more lucrative was the only focus, currently for all. The concept of instilling the right values has been entirely forgotten. That was a major reason for the heightened prevalence of criminal behaviour. Thirdly, Guruji stressed that daughters should not reared as weaklings but must be brought up to be strong. Martial arts training should be widely implemented. Guruji also appealed to women knowing martial arts to teach others for free. Emancipation of prostitutes through marriage: Guruji talked about the novel program in which the Dera members were striving hard to rescue prostitutes and 16 marriages had already taken place. Guruji said that even though the volunteers were trying hard, the touts and middlemen were proving to be a solid hindrance. Over 1500 grooms were waiting, and Guruji appealed to the media to disseminate the information, and if any such exploited woman, who was found disease free, the marriage could solemnised tomorrow in the Satsang congregation at Neta Ji Shubhash Place Metro Park, Pitampura..