I did not imitate Guru: Dera chief

PUNJAB TENSE: The violence began after Dera chief Baba Ram Rahim dressed as Guru Gobind Singh in an ad.

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New Delhi: Even as the clashes between the Sikhs and the Dera Sacha Sauda sect followers have left one dead and many injured, Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal and his team of ministers are scrambling to get the situation under control.

At a press conference on Friday, Badal announced compensation for individuals whose property was damaged during the clashes.

However, he said there would be no compensation for the Dera property that had been damaged by the Sikhs on Thursday.

Central forces have been rushed in to Punjab and Haryana to bring the situation under control after one person died during the clashes between Dera supporters and Sikh organisations on Thursday.

The violence began after the chief of the Dera sect, Baba Gurmeet Singh Ram Raheem appeared in a newspaper advertisement dressed as the tenth Sikh Guru - Guru Gobind Singh - and was shown distributing amrit (holy water) to people.

The heads of the five main gurdwaras, members of the Sikhs Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and Akali Dal leaders met at Damdama Sahib in Bhatinda on Thursday and asked the government to act against the Dera head if an apology is not rendered to the Akalis within 72 hours.

The Dera chief on Friday however, sounded a note of conciliation.

"All my sentences start with Guru Gobind Singh's name. He was a great guru.

To say that I have tried to imitate him is surprising. It is out of the question," he said.