The Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi cult was formed by Tulsidas Maharaj aka “Baba Jai Gurudev”, a Yadav by birth hailing from a small village in Etawah. He was known to have close ties with Samajwadi President president Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Yadav.
The “guru”, who was known to have lived long beyond the age of 100, had set up a sprawling 33-hectare ‘ashram in Mathura, a large part of which was illegal possession. He died in 2012.
He also dabbled in politics and had formed a Doordarshi Party, which fought several elections but never won. The cult owns huge swathes of land on the Delhi-Agra highway, large portions of which are illegally occupied.
AZAD HIND GOAL
The Swadheen Bharat Sena lures mostly poor and landless people into its ranks with plans of setting up an “Azad Hind” government in keeping with the ideals of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The ‘sena’ also promises them government land on lease if they serve the self-styled army.
The ‘sena’ has been on a 'satyagrah' at Jawahar Bagh for over two years now demanding petrol at Rs 1/litre. They also want Mahatma Gandhi’s picture on Indian currency notes to be replaced by that of Bose.
The “sena” activists chant “Jai Hind Jai Subhash” as a mark of respect to Subhash Chandra Bose.
SET UP THEIR OWN ADMINISTRATION
The encroachers at Jawahar Bagh had set up their own system of administration by establishing "courts and jail barracks" and meted out torture and punishment to inmates for violating their rules as they refused to recognise the Constitution and laws of the country.
"They established a township and food items were provided there. They also started running a government. They started giving punishment to people and torturing them. They set up courts, jail barracks and also set up 'pravachan' centres and takhts," IG Agra Zone, Durga Charan Mishra said.
The IG said, "When a civilian or official went inside they would attack them. They did not allow the followers to step outside under any condition. They would be given written permits for going outside and they expected that the followers were only allowed outside if someone from outside came in. They would only be allowed to leave for 1-2 days and would be let inside quietly."
(With PTI inputs)
