The Dera is basically a small city or township. It is a walled
city, surrounded by a wall complete
with guard towers which are occasionally manned by armed guards which
appear to be members
of the Indian government's military forces.
[PHOTO: Some of the Indian Military troops
assigned to guard Gurinder Singh and his
stronghold in India]
Within the walls, the people live in a socialist dictatorship under
the rulership of the absolute
dictator called "the master". It could be described as a "benevolent
dictatorship" because the
master is supposed to be "benevolent" but a better description is perhaps
a "military dictatorship"
because "the maser" is guarded by the Indian military and, whenever
he takes his daily tour
of his "subjects", guards are with him pointing automatic weapons at
the citizens.
Life in the Dera is socialized. In walking around, shops were
found that would not take money.
They would only take "coupons". It appears that most of the citizens
have little or no money and
are given "ration coupons" which they then take to the shops to get
food and basic needs to
keep them alive from day to day. It is not known if the "coupons"
are a basic guarantee or
if they must work for the coupons, but the latter is more likely.
Citizens live under a "thought police" system which rivals George Orwell's
classic "1984".
Big Brother, "the master", is always right. "Thought standards"
for citizens are specifically
spelled out in the "Origin and Growth" document. Any citizen
who is judged to be
"not subservient" is to be thrown out of the walled city. Exactly
how this is enforced is not
clear but it is likely that there is a system of spies and informers
who watch citizens to
make sure they remain "subservient" and denounce them if they are not.
It appears that the average Dera citizen is a poor Indian of some lesser
caste who has
no money and no where to go. In exchange for their "subservience",
they are given food,
shelter and medical care. Considering the plight of most people
in India, it is good deal.
The "60 Minutes" documentary of March 21, 1999 discussed the plight
of low caste
Indians. Caste is very important and you will note in the "Origin
and Growth" document
that caste is always stated in the legal documents. Basically,
high caste Indians - like
members of the Singh family - are land owners and lower caste Indians
who own no
land are effectively their slaves. High caste Indians who kill
low caste Indians for cause
or just for fun are rarely punished. Low caste Indians must take
off their shoes (sound familiar)
as a sign of submission when they are in the presence of high caste
Indians and must also
bow down to them. If they refuse, they can be punished by being
fired from their jobs which
means they will have no where to go since they own no land and are
at the mercy of the
(high caste) landowners, commonly called Maharajas (sound familiar)
, for a place to stay.
India is officially designated a democracy, however when asked in the
60 Minutes interview,
ordinary Indians described it as a "fake democracy".