Baba Bhaniara

Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara born in 1958, is the spiritual leader of a breakaway Sikh sect based in Dhamiana village in Ropar, Punjab. He is believed to have once worked as an employee of the Horticulture Department at a sericulture farm in Asmanpur village. He grew up in a modest family, his father Tulsi Ram, a mason, was a caretaker of two mazaars. After his father’s death, Bhaniara took over the mazaars and proclaimed himself a ‘baba’ (a spiritually advanced person).

The Baba was known a healer for work and used to leave food for wild animals in forests. Senior Congress leader Buta Singh had visited the Baba several times between 1985 and 1995 for healing of his wife Manjit Kaur, who was suffering from several problems of the heart, kidney, skin and lungs: Buta Singh later disassociated himself from the Baba.

Bhaniara has written a book "Bhavsagar Granth". This has offended the Sikhs, who complain that the baba is equating himself with the Sikh Gurus. An organization Khalsa Action Committee was formed headed by Mr. Charanjit Singh Channi, which disrupted a religious congregation at the home of one of Baba's followers in Ludhiana in 2001. The Baba's book was snatched and damaged. Following this, Baba's followers were accused of burning the copies of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. No evidence to support the accusation was found.

The baba was arrested in Oct. 2001. His book was banned by the government, and several copies of it were burned. An agitation was called by several Sikh youth organizations including Dal Khalsa and a building and a center of the baba was rightfully demolished.

In 2003, a man named Gopal Singh attempted to stab the baba, when he was in Ambala, to appear in the court, in connection with his alleged involvement with the alleged burning of the copies of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

A member of Babbar Khalsa, Gurdeep Singh Rana is under arrest for trying to assassinate the Baba using a bomb in January 2005.