Chandigarh: Pharmaceutical industry expert Jasdeep Singh Gill, a follower of the Dera Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), Amritsar, was anointed as the next spiritual head of the Dera.
Mumbai-based Gill, 45, will succeed Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the current dera head.
On 31 May, Gill stepped down from his position as Cipla’s chief strategic officer and senior management personnel.
Announcing Dhillon’s decision to the Dera followers (sangat) through a written communication Monday, Dera secretary Devender Singh Sikri said that Gill would also take over as the patron of the Dera Beas society with immediate effect.
Gill will take over as the spiritual head only when Dhillon steps down, a senior functionary of the Dera told ThePrint.
Gill’s father Sukhdev Singh is an ex-army man and is heading the management of the hundreds of satsangs of the Dera in India. Gill’s mother leads one of the hostels in the Dera complex at Beas.
Considered to be the most prominent among the Deras in Punjab, the RSSB owns huge pieces of land across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It claims to have lakhs of followers.
Dhillon, 69, has followed the tradition of declaring a successor during his lifetime. Dhillon himself was named the Dera chief in 1990 by his predecessor Baba Charan Singh.
“Babaji has expressed that like he has received full support and love of the sangat after huzoor Maharaj ji, he has wished and requested that the same love and affection be given to Jasdeep Singh Gill in carrying out his sewa as patron as well as sant Satguru,” states Sikri’s communication to the Dera followers.
Once Gill takes over as the spiritual head, he will have the authority to giving initiation (naam).
Gill’s declaration as the next Dera head has come as a surprise to several senior Dera functionaries, who claimed that they do not know much about Gill. His father Col. Gill, however, is a prominent and well known face in the Dera.
Gill is a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and holds a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He did Bachelors in chemical engineering from IIT Delhi.
After joining Cipla in 2019, he led the company’s strategy including mergers and acquisitions. From 2013 to 2019, he was the senior principal consulting in India for IQVIA, a life science and clinical research facility. For 3 years, he remained a consultant with the Monitor Group advising cross industry clients on strategy.
From 2006 to 2010, Gill worked in multiple roles in Ranbaxy, the pharmaceutical giant once run by Dhillon’s nephews Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.
The dera draws its legacy from the Radha Soami spiritual tradition, started by Baba Shiv Dayal Singh in Agra in 1861. His disciple, Baba Jaimal Singh, started the Beas dera in 1891. The Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa is a breakaway faction of the Radha Soami tradition.
Dhillon took over as the head of the dera in 1990 from his maternal uncle Baba Charan Singh, who was its chief from 1951 till 1990. When Dhillon was announced as successor, he was in Spain and returned to take over the reins of the dera.
In 2020, Dhillon found himself embroiled in the high-profile fraud case involving Shivinder and Malvinder Singh. Their mother Nimmi Singh was Baba Charan Singh’s daughter. However, ties soured after Malvinder dragged Dhillon and his family into the Ranbaxy case. He told the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court that Dhillon owed crores of rupees to his companies .
According to the RSSB website, the dera has almost 5,000 branches in India and 90 abroad. Its headquarters at Beas, spread across 3,000 acres, is a mini township in itself, complete with a massive satsang complex, residential areas, a school, and a hospital.
Despite it claiming to be completely apolitical, politicians flock to the RSSB during elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the dera in November 2022, ahead of the Himachal Pradesh polls. Dhillon had met the PM in Delhi in February 2022 as well. Union home minister Amit Shah visited the dera that year.
(Edited by Tony Rai)