by: YESPUNJAB.Com
Whether he is dead or is in ‘Samadhi’ ?
Will he bounce back to life or is it a matter of hours or days before his last rights would be performed?
Why the dera is withholding the information on the subject?
and why Ashutosh’s followers, media and the administration are not being allowed to see the dera head, even if he is in ‘Samadhi’ as claimed by those in-charge of the dera at the moment?
These are some of the questions his followers are asking.
These are the questions media is cautiously exploring and these are the questions answers to which seem not known to even the administrative and police officers, who have access inside the dera.
The dera people are secretive, the followers are worried, the media is curious and the administration is mum.
The ‘godman’ and founder head of Nurmahal based Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan (DJJS) had ‘died’ on the night intervening between Wednesday and Thursday.
The dera not only admits but also claims that doctors have declared Ashutosh ‘clinically dead’ but even today stuck to its claim that the he was ‘spiritually alive’ as he was in a ‘Samadhi’ (deep meditation).
The dera did not take any exception to the condolence press releases issued by some of the top political leaders of the state. A Union Minister, a former Chief Minister and a PPCC Chief issued press-releases but all of them later chose to withdraw realising that the dera was not acknowledging the death of its head.
The only indicator people and media are counting on is that sprawling fields around the dera are being cleared on the orders of the dera for an undeclared purpose.
The police are barricading the area and security is being further heightened in anticipation of some announcement by the dera. As the dera remains mum on the issues, people are speculating that this could be the preparatory arrangement for the last rights of the dera head as large number of people are expected to attend if the situation turns so.
The website of the dera now has a special box insertion telling the visitors that ‘His Holiness Shri Ashutosh Maharaj Ji has entered Samadhi in Noormahal, Punjab, India. Request all to sit in Akhand Sadhna and pray to the supreme power. Beware of any negative rumours’.
There is a ‘featured video’ on the website wherein Swami Vishalanand, the chief spokesperson of the dera gives a 1:12 minute message in Hindi asking people not to be led by ‘rumours’ about Ashutosh’s death as he was in ‘Samadhi’ and was believed to resurface soon.
The dera did not issue any release Thursday and when media persons gathered to seek information an interaction with the spokespersons revealed almost nothing new.
The only new thing that emerged out of the interaction was that while on Wednesday it was said that Ashutosh was in a ‘Samadhi’ in sitting posture, today the dera spokesperson said he was in the ‘Samadhi’ in a ‘lying posture’.
The dera spokesperson also claimed that medical check-ups were going on and they hoped for the revival of the ‘godman’.
[NOTE: Above write-up was originally published by YesPunjab.Com, an online news-portal by Senior Punjab journalist H. S. Bawa, under title: “IS ASHUTOSH DEAD OR IN ‘SAMADHI’? : NO ONE HAS AN ANSWER AND THE SUSPENSE CONTINUES” at source page: http://www.yespunjab.com/punjab/item/39582-is-ashutosh-dead-or-in-samadhi-no-one-has-an-answer-and-the-suspense-continues . It is reproduced as above for the information of readers/ visitors of the Sikh Siyasat News. ]