Fifty (50) crore devotees have so far taken a holy dip at the ongoing Mahakumbh 2025 at Prayagraj, the largest gathering ever at a single place in the human History. People from all walks of life and from different parts of the world have arrived at the Triveni Sangam to seek blessings of Maa Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati and have afterwards shared their experiences.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh | Drone visuals from the Ghats of Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj as people continue to take a holy dip in Mahakumbh.
More than 50 crore people have taken a holy dip in the Triveni Sangam till now. pic.twitter.com/7jPqw2iTwe
— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2025
One of them is T Raja Singh, BJP MLA from Goshamahal assembly seat in Hyderabad, Telangana. T Raja Singh is also famous among the youth and social media as Tiger Raja Singh. He has come out in support of Ravinder Pal aka Dara Singh who has been in Odisha jail for about 25 years. From the Sangam shetra in Mahakumbh, he has also demanded his release from jail.
Also Read: Mahakumbh, Misinformation, and the Politics of Hatred: A Reality Check
T Raja Singh raised this demand in a religious gathering that was organised by storyteller Devkinandan Thakur. It was called to delibrate the formation of Sanatan Board and hundreds of saints and sages along with thousands of people were present in this religious gathering.
Addressing the gathering, T Raja Singh noted that Dara Singh, a resident of Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh, has been serving jail for more than 2 decades. His fault was that he opposed the Christian conversions happening at the behest of foreign powers. The common populace and the devotees present there supported his demand of Dara Singh’s earliest release by chanting slogans of Jai Shri Ram.
In the same meeting, the BJP MLA also remembered kar sevaks who were gunned down by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government to crush the Ram Mandir movement in 1990. Expressing concern, Raja Singh said that today there is no one left to care for those martyrs. He believes that if the Sanatan Board had been in place, then such families would have been properly taken care of as they had sacrificed their lives in the interest of religion and country. The support would have also translated in the form of providing legal help to Hindus who have been trapped in various cases.
First things first, Who is Dara Singh alias Ravinder Pal?
Now Ravinder Pal alias Dara Singh (60) is originally a resident of Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh. His house is near Phaphund Junction. In his youth, Dara Singh went to Noida in search of a job where he met a young man from Odisha. Along with him, he went to Odisha and started working for religious awakening in association with Hindu organisations. Back in those days, the tribals in Odisha were being converted en masse by the Christian missionaries. Graham Staines, originally from Australia, was then considered one of the biggest Missionaries of Odisha.
On 23 January 1999, a mob in Keonjhar district of Odisha locked Graham Staines inside his jeep and burned him. In this arson, Graham Staines’ two minor sons Philip and Timothy also died. Later, another Missionary named Arul Das and an alleged businessman named Sheikh Rehman were also killed. Sheikh Rehman was accused of running a cow slaughter syndicate. Along with Graham Staines, Odisha Police had accused Dara Singh of being involved in the murders of Arul Das and Sheikh Rehman.
Finally, in 1999, Odisha Police showed Dara Singh’s arrest. However, according to his family, Dara Singh surrendered to the police to save his brother from illegal police custody. The story of his arrest by the police is considered a conspiracy to grab the reward money, which later did not succeed. Dara Singh was sentenced to death by the Sessions Court and the High Court. The sentencing was changed to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court. We will soon present a separate story to TFI viewers, explaining each and every point of the entire Dara Singh case. Now back to the demands raised during the gathering called for Sanatan Board during the ongoing Mahakumbh.
Bail to Tahir Hussain, Jail to Dara Singh
During the discussions, T Raja Singh raised the issue of Ravinder Pal alias Dara Singh at a time when Tahir Hussain, former councillor of Aam Aadmi Party and accused of massacre of many Hindus in Delhi riots, was granted parole for election campaigning.
Tahir Hussain not only came out of jail but also he roamed around many parts of Delhi and asked for votes for himself. While granting him bail, SC Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah even said that he had not visited home for many years. Justice Amanullah had termed the evidence and witnesses presented by the police as mere allegations. However, another judge on the 2-member bench, Justice Pankaj Mithal rejected Hussain’s bail plea. Nonetheless, AIMIM candidate Tahir Hussain suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht, from a Muslim-dominated Delhi assembly constituency of Mustafabad.
It has been more than 25 years, yet, Dara Singh has never been able to get even a minute’s parole. His parents died while he was in jail and he didn’t get a parole even to cremate them. Their ashes were buried in the fields for a long time, hoping that Dara Singh would come and immerse his parents’ ashes in the river Ganga, completing the Hindu last rites. Even after the long wait of over 20 years, the son couldn’t material this sacred ritual for his parents. Consequently, his younger brother had to carry out the task.
Over the years, Dara Singh’s niece tied marrital knot but during that time too, Dara Singh didn’t get parole, despite many efforts. One of the reasons for this is the administration’s negative attitude towards Dara Singh’s family. His nephew is also eligible for marriage now but he maintains that he will only get married when his uncle is released from jail. Dara Singh’s family holds deep respect and reverence for Sanatan Dharma.
‘Thousands of Dara Singhs were imprisoned, who were forgotten for being Hindus’: BJP MLA T Raja Singh
In the ongoing Mahakumbh, TFI spoke to BJP MLA T Raja Singh on this entire issue. Raja Singh told us that unfortunately Dara Singh is not alone rather he is a symbol that exemplifies the plight of Hindus. He added that he knows thousands of people who are serving longer jail terms just because they are Hindus and there is no one to help them legally or financially. Citing his own example, Raja Singh said that at one time he was forced to spend months in jail because he was short of just a few thousand rupees.
T Raja Singh firmly asserted that Dara Singh is now becoming a victim of neglect and injustice. He expressed hope that Dara Singh’s release will be ensured soon. Apart from Dara Singh, he has also appealed to the Hindu society to think about the families of many other people including kar sevaks who sacrificed their lives for religion and do something for them. Along with this, Raja Singh praised the arrangements made by the Yogi government in the Mahakumbh and accused the previous governments of suppressing Hindu beliefs. He also expressed hope that appeasement will be rooted out as soon as BJP government comes to power in Telangana.
PS: This story is translated from our Hindi portal, click here, to read the original Hindi version of this article.
