So why is the BJP going soft on a rapist like Ram Rahim? The answer could possibly lie in the party’s political compulsions ahead of the Haryana Assembly elections due later this year.

Ram Rahim’s Dera Sacha Sauda is said to have supported the BJP and its allies in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Haryana Assembly elections later that year, the 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Dera enjoys considerable influence in Haryana and Punjab, particularly among a section of Dalits and this makes it a crucial player during elections. Not just BJP, its ally Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress have also hobnobbed with Ram Rahim at some point of time or the other. But since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Dera has consistently been supporting the BJP and the SAD. The BJP, too, has reciprocated by showering praise on Ram Rahim at various forums.

For instance in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Ram Rahim’s efforts in promoting the Swachh Bharat Mission. This is despite the fact that at that time Ram Rahim was still being tried for raping two women.