The Tribune - August 27, 2017
Not all deras are dens of debauchery
Harish Khare
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has given a bad name to all the deras and all the gurus. That would be unfair to the entire breed.
Deras and ashrams have been integral to the Indian social scene. I prefer to think of the deras and ashrams as natural manifestations of a changing social order; these are to be seen as outlets attending to the needs in society, beyond what the conventional religion is able to provide or not provide. Every organised religion develops a clergy and a hierarchy that over decades becomes rigidly demanding, choking up individualism and insisting on a conformist orthodoxy. In good time, there is dissent, a rebellion and a new sect, a new dera, a new math.
In modern parlance, the deras and ashrams are expressions of civil society at work, filling in the void created by the State’s failure to provide social protection and comfort to various social segments. Like a Lions Club or a Rotary Club, Dera Sacha Sauda also claims to be engaged in doing socially useful work.
People at all times and in every age have felt the need for spiritual fellowship. A successful guru is able to manufacture a unique relationship with his followers; a mutually convenient myth is created that the follower is blessed by proximity with the guru; each devotee is encouraged to feel that he/she shares a very special bond of nobility with the “baba”.
********************
OUTSIDERS may scoff at the deras, but for the devotees there is a very definite comfort, involving rites of inclusion and exclusion. Each dera creates its own special solidarity, which most devotees find very empowering, helping them cope with the vicissitudes of life. Deras obviously create a different world of alternate values where the followers feel respected and wanted. They offer approval and acceptance to the devotee.
In real life, most people have a need to follow — a leader, a guru, a role model, anyone who they think can help them make sense of a bewildering cruel world. This weakness is not just limited to the poor; even the very wealthy and well-to-do sections in society tend to gravitate towards the babas and gurus. Look at, for example, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Maharaj and his upper class followers who feel pricey because they are his followers.
Many do laugh at Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s pretensions to be Messenger of God. But he certainly seems to have a remarkable organisational talent and a marketing touch that would be the envy of any public relations executive. Many find his sales pitch to be crude and uncouth, but there is nothing insincere about it. He does not hide behind the ochre robe; unlike that other Baba, Ramdev, he does not invoke our “nationalism” to sell his merchandise of biscuits, facewash, and toothpaste.
I think where all these babas and deras go wrong is in getting enticed by the corrupting politician’s allurements; or, in thinking that they can exploit the politician for their own use. No one — and, that means, no one — ever gets the better of the politician.
What I fail to understand is the dera’s choice of the politician. I would like to presume that these deras are run by some very intelligent and shrewd men. And, these prescient men should know that deras are the natural enemies in the Hindutva project. The ultimate goal of the Hindutva project is to impose a monolithic order on all strands of Hindu society, whereas the deras and the ashrams are islands of customised separateness.
No one should be surprised if last Friday’s violence is used to see to it that the Dera Sacha Sauda stands dismantled.
*****
SINCE its formation in 1966, this is first time that Haryana has had a BJP government. Till a few weeks ago, an advertisement campaign was serenading 1,000 days of “manohar raj” in Haryana. Pleasant and benign rule of Manohar Lal Khattar. The Chief Minister was even feted by the newly proclaimed “Chanakya” of Indian politics, Amit Shah of the BJP. And, now Haryana burns. So much for Chanakyan foresight.
Perhaps, the most disappointed lot would be those impresarios in Nagpur. Yet another RSS poster boy has turned out to be such a disappointment. The RSS assiduously instigates a view that anyone who gets baptised as a swayamsevak gets automatically endowed with qualities befitting a public office.
That may be the Nagpur mantra but the RSS experiment in Haryana has cost the state heavily. For the second time in sixteen months, the state has been subjected to massive convulsions and disorder, only because the Chief Minster has failed to graduate from a swayamsevak to an administrator. Anyone can be appointed a chief minister (a la Yogi Adityanath) and he can also be given any number of advisers and officers but when the push comes to a shove, it is the top man and his reflexes that overshadow the decision-making. Novices will be novices.
[. . .]
FULL TEXT AT: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/columns/not-all-deras-are-dens-of-debauchery/457873.html
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Showing posts with label Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Show all posts
June 07, 2016
India: Power of God-men, Con-men, Gurus, Guru dung . . .
The Hindu, June 8, 2016
The ambiguities of gurudom
by Neera Chandhoke
The prime attraction of today’s guru is that he or she is accessible to all. In circumstances that breed despair, the guru becomes the healer, the confidant, and the protective patriarch or matriarch
Newspaper reports on the Jawahar Bagh killings in Mathura followed in quick succession accounts of the extravaganza hosted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the floodplain of the Yamuna in Delhi. Both reports reinforce convictions that our world is best described as topsy-turvy. There was a time when statesmen like Jawaharlal Nehru believed that religion was dangerous because it convinced followers that hunger, filth and misery were their natural lot. Today god-men, accomplished practitioners of the art of politics, wield considerable power and political clout. But they wilfully overlook, and thereby sanction misery, hunger and filth.
Consider the paradoxes of this rapidly growing phenomenon. Men of god are expected to be renouncers. New-age gurus dress in flashy apparel, travel in luxurious private planes, host celebrations attended by pomp and splendour, and endeavour to arouse shock and awe among devotees. Ministers, Supreme Court judges, high-ranking bureaucrats, police officers, corporate honchos, and media personalities genuflect at the feet of self-styled gurus. Never have religious leaders fetched such unthinking obeisance, and untrammelled power as they do today. It is not surprising that they have neither time nor inclination to do something about the ills of our society.
Down the ages
This was not always so. In all religions, visionary spiritual leaders have challenged hierarchies and disparities, exploitation and discrimination of the community. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the Bhakti movement launched a powerful attack on caste-based discrimination in Hinduism. Till today the subversive poetry authored by Kabir is remembered, recited and sung. “Pandit,” he addressed the Brahmin, “look in your heart to know. Tell me how untouchability was born — untouchability is what you made so.”
Right up till the turn of the twentieth century, a number of religious leaders driven by the quest for a moral order, and fired by the belief that untouchability was a later appendage to Hinduism, tried to retrieve the spiritual essence of the religion. Over the millennia, others threw up their metaphorical hands in despair, broke away and established new religions — Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Hinduism, smudged deeply by social exclusion, became the object of struggle, the target of social reform movements, and often the butt of ridicule.
Do we see any of this questioning by cults today? Perhaps not. Self-styled gurus can hardly launch a critique of a system of which they are the beneficiaries. When the ‘spiritual’ leader of the infamous Swadheen Bharat Subhas Sena, Jai Gurudev, died in 2012, he reportedly left property and land worth Rs.12,000 crore, a school, a petrol pump, a temple that secured him immortality, ashrams, assets, and luxury cars. Hinduism is a religion that teaches detachment; ironically, leaders of cults are passionately attached to worldly possessions, power and pelf. Their power is on public display. Certainly, Indians have bowed their foreheads before gurus, renouncers, holy men, savants and peripatetic sadhus since time immemorial. But these transactions between believers and faith leaders were private, confidential and sacrosanct. These days transactions are public affairs; conspicuously orchestrated mega-events are televised and breathlessly consumed by a global constituency.
Soulless world and leaders
Why do then thousands of people flock to new-age gurus on show? Perhaps there is an answer. Within the tradition, the guru spent many years mastering philosophical knowledge because his role was that of a medium between individuals and the divine. He himself was never the divine. Yet access to the spiritual leader was restricted through elaborate rituals of exclusion of castes and often women.
The prime attraction of today’s guru is that he/she is accessible to all. The gates of spiritual wisdom have been thrown open, gatekeepers have been dispensed with, and religious philosophy has been democratised. Whether the leader himself is a democrat is questionable. But that does not matter for people who have been left rudderless in a world of vulgar consumerism and stark disparities. They have lost confidence in their ability to negotiate the demands of a market-driven society. In capitalist society the value of a person is judged by the value of her possessions. Individuals themselves become commodities at considerable cost to their self-esteem and assurance.
Social norms breed despair, and the guru becomes the healer, the confidant, and the protective patriarch or matriarch. In a commodity-driven world, where ordinary people lurch — like a fragile raft on stormy waters — from one crisis to another, religion becomes as Marx had said, “the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of the soulless condition.” The problem is not with religion, it is with this soulless world that many seek to negotiate with the help of a religious leader.
The quest for reassurance and validation of the self through face-to-face interaction with a local deity, or saint or a god-man is not new. In Punjab, for years Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs worshipped together at roadside shrines, or at the tomb of a Sufi saint. In the town of Malerkotla, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs offer money, jewels, and cooked sweet rice at the mazaar of Sheikh Sadr-ud-Din, the founder of Malerkotla and a Sufi saint. Thousands of people visit a fair held on the first Thursday of every month. In 1904 the author of the Malerkotla Gazetteer wrote in a puzzled mien, “It is strange that these fairs are mostly attended by Hindus though Sadr-ud-Din was a Muslim saint.” This is a town of Sufi tombs, temple bells hang in front of mosques, and Om is tattooed on the hands of the keeper of the shrine. Notably Malerkotla has never witnessed a communal riot, simply because joint worship created a political community. It is debatable whether modern gurus teach followers to live in harmony with other fellow beings. At best, they teach instant moksha, at worst they exploit followers.
Hindutva versus god-men
Ironically personalised worship to a new-age guru has recreated multiple centres of belief that are characteristic of Hinduism. Historians tell us that the unified religion we call Hinduism is a colonial construct, because it were colonial administrators and missionaries who lumped various groups, philosophies, faiths, and ideologies under the umbrella term ‘Hinduism’. Neo-Hindu leaders, buffeted by criticism of practices sanctioned by Hinduism, responded to the colonial encounter by projecting a pan-Indian religion.
Over time this religion provided identity and inspiration to sections of the nationalist movement. V.D. Savarkar refused to accept that Hinduism is of relatively recent provenance, and suggested that the religion goes back into ancient time. He called it Hindutva, an ideology that forms the crux of the homogenising project of the religious Right. The irony is that Hindutva can only go so far, it contributes to identity formation through differentiation, but it cannot fill empty or half-filled pockets, give jobs, assure dignity, promise security, or allay insecurities and complexes. That only an urban-based guru or a cult, which has replaced the traditional roadside shrine, can give.
The contradiction is that even if gurudom feeds into the project of Hindutva, spiritual leaders exercise, for the state, dangerous autonomy. For example, Jawahar Bagh developed into an independent township within the precincts of a sovereign India. Its inhabitants established an economy, an educational system, a currency, and imparted training in violence to the children. They also created a rather wacky political and economic agenda, but one that posed a challenge to the government. That gurus influence considerably the electoral fortunes of the local candidate is the worst-kept secret in India. That is why politicians court them.
We know that Hindutva is fractured along the lines of caste and class. But it is also a brittle construct because it has to compete with personalised religious cults for the loyalties of citizens. Over time, the project is bound to come a cropper, because what we call Hinduism is nothing but a time-bound coalition of cults, religious groups, personalised modes of worship and localised gods. These relentlessly subvert the homogenising ideology of Hindutva. For the rational, god-men are irrational, for the votaries of Hindutva they provide a rather major headache.
Neera Chandhoke is a former Professor of Political Science, Delhi University.
The ambiguities of gurudom
by Neera Chandhoke
The prime attraction of today’s guru is that he or she is accessible to all. In circumstances that breed despair, the guru becomes the healer, the confidant, and the protective patriarch or matriarch
Newspaper reports on the Jawahar Bagh killings in Mathura followed in quick succession accounts of the extravaganza hosted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the floodplain of the Yamuna in Delhi. Both reports reinforce convictions that our world is best described as topsy-turvy. There was a time when statesmen like Jawaharlal Nehru believed that religion was dangerous because it convinced followers that hunger, filth and misery were their natural lot. Today god-men, accomplished practitioners of the art of politics, wield considerable power and political clout. But they wilfully overlook, and thereby sanction misery, hunger and filth.
Consider the paradoxes of this rapidly growing phenomenon. Men of god are expected to be renouncers. New-age gurus dress in flashy apparel, travel in luxurious private planes, host celebrations attended by pomp and splendour, and endeavour to arouse shock and awe among devotees. Ministers, Supreme Court judges, high-ranking bureaucrats, police officers, corporate honchos, and media personalities genuflect at the feet of self-styled gurus. Never have religious leaders fetched such unthinking obeisance, and untrammelled power as they do today. It is not surprising that they have neither time nor inclination to do something about the ills of our society.
Down the ages
This was not always so. In all religions, visionary spiritual leaders have challenged hierarchies and disparities, exploitation and discrimination of the community. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the Bhakti movement launched a powerful attack on caste-based discrimination in Hinduism. Till today the subversive poetry authored by Kabir is remembered, recited and sung. “Pandit,” he addressed the Brahmin, “look in your heart to know. Tell me how untouchability was born — untouchability is what you made so.”
Right up till the turn of the twentieth century, a number of religious leaders driven by the quest for a moral order, and fired by the belief that untouchability was a later appendage to Hinduism, tried to retrieve the spiritual essence of the religion. Over the millennia, others threw up their metaphorical hands in despair, broke away and established new religions — Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Hinduism, smudged deeply by social exclusion, became the object of struggle, the target of social reform movements, and often the butt of ridicule.
Do we see any of this questioning by cults today? Perhaps not. Self-styled gurus can hardly launch a critique of a system of which they are the beneficiaries. When the ‘spiritual’ leader of the infamous Swadheen Bharat Subhas Sena, Jai Gurudev, died in 2012, he reportedly left property and land worth Rs.12,000 crore, a school, a petrol pump, a temple that secured him immortality, ashrams, assets, and luxury cars. Hinduism is a religion that teaches detachment; ironically, leaders of cults are passionately attached to worldly possessions, power and pelf. Their power is on public display. Certainly, Indians have bowed their foreheads before gurus, renouncers, holy men, savants and peripatetic sadhus since time immemorial. But these transactions between believers and faith leaders were private, confidential and sacrosanct. These days transactions are public affairs; conspicuously orchestrated mega-events are televised and breathlessly consumed by a global constituency.
Soulless world and leaders
Why do then thousands of people flock to new-age gurus on show? Perhaps there is an answer. Within the tradition, the guru spent many years mastering philosophical knowledge because his role was that of a medium between individuals and the divine. He himself was never the divine. Yet access to the spiritual leader was restricted through elaborate rituals of exclusion of castes and often women.
The prime attraction of today’s guru is that he/she is accessible to all. The gates of spiritual wisdom have been thrown open, gatekeepers have been dispensed with, and religious philosophy has been democratised. Whether the leader himself is a democrat is questionable. But that does not matter for people who have been left rudderless in a world of vulgar consumerism and stark disparities. They have lost confidence in their ability to negotiate the demands of a market-driven society. In capitalist society the value of a person is judged by the value of her possessions. Individuals themselves become commodities at considerable cost to their self-esteem and assurance.
Social norms breed despair, and the guru becomes the healer, the confidant, and the protective patriarch or matriarch. In a commodity-driven world, where ordinary people lurch — like a fragile raft on stormy waters — from one crisis to another, religion becomes as Marx had said, “the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of the soulless condition.” The problem is not with religion, it is with this soulless world that many seek to negotiate with the help of a religious leader.
The quest for reassurance and validation of the self through face-to-face interaction with a local deity, or saint or a god-man is not new. In Punjab, for years Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs worshipped together at roadside shrines, or at the tomb of a Sufi saint. In the town of Malerkotla, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs offer money, jewels, and cooked sweet rice at the mazaar of Sheikh Sadr-ud-Din, the founder of Malerkotla and a Sufi saint. Thousands of people visit a fair held on the first Thursday of every month. In 1904 the author of the Malerkotla Gazetteer wrote in a puzzled mien, “It is strange that these fairs are mostly attended by Hindus though Sadr-ud-Din was a Muslim saint.” This is a town of Sufi tombs, temple bells hang in front of mosques, and Om is tattooed on the hands of the keeper of the shrine. Notably Malerkotla has never witnessed a communal riot, simply because joint worship created a political community. It is debatable whether modern gurus teach followers to live in harmony with other fellow beings. At best, they teach instant moksha, at worst they exploit followers.
Hindutva versus god-men
Ironically personalised worship to a new-age guru has recreated multiple centres of belief that are characteristic of Hinduism. Historians tell us that the unified religion we call Hinduism is a colonial construct, because it were colonial administrators and missionaries who lumped various groups, philosophies, faiths, and ideologies under the umbrella term ‘Hinduism’. Neo-Hindu leaders, buffeted by criticism of practices sanctioned by Hinduism, responded to the colonial encounter by projecting a pan-Indian religion.
Over time this religion provided identity and inspiration to sections of the nationalist movement. V.D. Savarkar refused to accept that Hinduism is of relatively recent provenance, and suggested that the religion goes back into ancient time. He called it Hindutva, an ideology that forms the crux of the homogenising project of the religious Right. The irony is that Hindutva can only go so far, it contributes to identity formation through differentiation, but it cannot fill empty or half-filled pockets, give jobs, assure dignity, promise security, or allay insecurities and complexes. That only an urban-based guru or a cult, which has replaced the traditional roadside shrine, can give.
The contradiction is that even if gurudom feeds into the project of Hindutva, spiritual leaders exercise, for the state, dangerous autonomy. For example, Jawahar Bagh developed into an independent township within the precincts of a sovereign India. Its inhabitants established an economy, an educational system, a currency, and imparted training in violence to the children. They also created a rather wacky political and economic agenda, but one that posed a challenge to the government. That gurus influence considerably the electoral fortunes of the local candidate is the worst-kept secret in India. That is why politicians court them.
We know that Hindutva is fractured along the lines of caste and class. But it is also a brittle construct because it has to compete with personalised religious cults for the loyalties of citizens. Over time, the project is bound to come a cropper, because what we call Hinduism is nothing but a time-bound coalition of cults, religious groups, personalised modes of worship and localised gods. These relentlessly subvert the homogenising ideology of Hindutva. For the rational, god-men are irrational, for the votaries of Hindutva they provide a rather major headache.
Neera Chandhoke is a former Professor of Political Science, Delhi University.
May 16, 2016
India - Malegaon Blasts: NIA must Probe RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Admission and Allegations about Art of Living (Shamsul Islam)
Malegaon Blasts: NIA must Probe Mohan Bhagwat’s Admission and Allegations about Art of Living
Written by Shamsul
Islam | Published on: May 14, 2016
The
latest turn around by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)
in the cases of bomb blasts in Malegaon, allegedly conducted by some of the
Hindutva cadres makes it very clear that, these Hindutva-inspired
terrorists are going to be gradually given a reprieve, in a carefully scripted
move orchestrated by the current political dispensation in Delhi, all of whom
also happen to be senior cadres of the RSS. The Malegaon blasts charge sheet
appears to be just the beginning; a similar outcome will probably result in
other similar blasts where Muslims had been targeted in different parts of the
country, including the blasts that occurred on board the Samjhauta Express in
2007.
It was not unexpected that this would happen once the Modi government assumed power in May 2014. The chief prosecutor Rohini Salian in the Malegaon case (investigated first by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS, then the CBI and finally the NIA) case had warned that this was coming in the first half of 2015 itself. Julio Ribeiro, perhaps the most decorated cop in independent India and an expert on terrorism, had, in a signed piece on June 27, 2015, warned that "going slow on ‘Hindu terror’ is dangerous. [i] It’s also an insult to the memory of Hemant Karkare". In his article Julio Ribeiro went on to share the crucial facts about the case:….
It was not unexpected that this would happen once the Modi government assumed power in May 2014. The chief prosecutor Rohini Salian in the Malegaon case (investigated first by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS, then the CBI and finally the NIA) case had warned that this was coming in the first half of 2015 itself. Julio Ribeiro, perhaps the most decorated cop in independent India and an expert on terrorism, had, in a signed piece on June 27, 2015, warned that "going slow on ‘Hindu terror’ is dangerous. [i] It’s also an insult to the memory of Hemant Karkare". In his article Julio Ribeiro went on to share the crucial facts about the case:….
March 10, 2016
India: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's proximity to BJP’s Modi Govt and danger of growing influence of religious cults on governments | Jyotirmaya Sharma
The Wire, 10 March 2016
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Pathology of New Age Cults
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Pathology of New Age Cults
The need to ease out the influence of New Age gurus is more immediate than ever. Otherwise, the stranglehold of religious cults on governments would become a reality sooner than later.
Reflecting
the BJP’s proximity to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Modi government has
given a grant of over Rs 2 crore for the Art of Living foundation’s
‘world cultural forum’ on the Yamuna river bed near Delhi. Credit: PTI
Photo by Kamal Kishore
In March 2001, I wrote a piece in a national daily I used to then work for arguing that
there was no essential difference between the Taliban’s felling of the
Bamiyan Buddha and the destruction of the Babri masjid in India. For
every Mullah Muhammad Omar in Afghanistan, there is a corresponding
Giriraj Kishore.
Soon after the piece was published, I received a
request from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar through a disciple for a conversation
on this very issue. I was told that the popular New Age guru was upset
and perplexed by my speaking of the Bamiyan Buddha and the Babri masjid
in the same breath.
I met him in Delhi and we spoke for nearly an hour (all
through which Sri Sri ran his fingers in a large bowl of dry fruit,
neither eating any nor offering it to me). There was total asymmetry
between our perspectives and we agreed to disagree. I failed to impress
upon him that slavery to historical memory can lead to a spiral of
recriminations and fuel the desire to settle scores endlessly. Both
acts, contemporary as they are, are born out of cynical politics and the
desire to divide people and rule on the basis of such a division.
The godman kept repeating the fact that the mosque in
Ayodhya was built after destroying a temple and so it fell into another
category than the Bamiyan Buddha. For me the impulse to destroy the
Bamiyan Buddha and the Babri mosque came from the same seed of
intolerance and fear of diversity and complexity with little or no
difference separating the two.
Camouflaging sectarian identities
Of course, there has been a proliferation of new age
Hindu gurus in recent years, where the tag of “new age” manages to
camouflage their otherwise apparent sectarian identities. They manage to
hide behind the indeterminate label of “world religions” and this label
releases them from immediate identification with any narrow sectarian
affiliation. Their stress on singing, dancing and being happy, and
doctrinal fast food such as “smiling” and “love” endears them to the
burgeoning “I, me, myself” middle class in India, especially the young.
This escape from any serious doctrinal discussion helps justify and
legitimate hedonism and mindless consumerism. They help concretise a
world where guilt is someone else’s bad karma and good karma is the
pursuit of unbridled gratification, including the misplaced greed for
spirituality.
These new age gurus offer to Hindus a simplified, non-
threatening and pre-digested doctrine that is founded on a peculiar kind
of interpretation of advaita Vedanta, made popular in India
since the nineteenth century. This is akin to an overripe banana that
looks solid from the outside but is essentially gooey from the inside.
It takes the form of endless prattle about the oneness of the universe
and the universality of the Brahman. Add to this yoga, meditation and
ayurveda and the picture gets completed. The latter are touted as part
of the great eternal and abiding legacy of their version of the great
Hindu civilisation and their popularity elsewhere helps integration with
Western modernity and concepts of progress.
More significantly, almost all of these new age cults
and gurus are recruitment centres for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh and the Sangh parivar. Put differently, the RSS has outsourced its
putative recruitment to these new age cults. The RSS and the Sangh
parivar realise that no amount of sartorial changes will help correct
their regressive image. What the new age cults manage for them is to
keep the Indian middle class within the Hindu nationalist fold by
echoing the preoccupations of this class. Therefore, these cults also
have a subtle way of speaking about India’s military glory, how true
gentleness lies in strength, the dream of India as a superpower, the
impediments in the way of economic growth (namely, communists,
secularists and Muslims) and how missionaries, alternate lifestyles,
heterodox ideas, creative literature, poetry and modern art have worked
to tarnish India (which is Hindu in their scheme of things) and its
glories in the eyes of the world.
Perniciously banal
Founder
of Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shankar addresses
entrepreneurs at the ‘Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016’ in
Gurgaon on Tuesday. Credit: PTI
Equally serious are the banalities offered day in and
day out. The more popular among these are “the same god is in all of us”
and the “same essence permeates us all”. In that sense, they reduce all
other faiths and their followers to nothingness and rob them of any
specific cultural identity they might have cherished, besides being
extremely condescending to other faiths. In all of this, the new age
gurus manage to impress upon their followers that this benign doctrine
flows from Hinduism and that its customary tolerance is what accounts
for this seeming generosity.
The only counter to these pernicious doctrines is the
celebration of politics, democracy, liberalism and plurality in letter
and in spirit. Genuine democracy is the greatest enemy of these
regressive tendencies. The way politicians have vitiated the public
sphere in recent years leads to the spectacle of a godman entering the
public arena to solve an issue that is primarily political. Whether this
is done in a public capacity or in a private one is an issue that ought
to be thoroughly debated and any such future efforts ought to be
shunned. Neither the Shankaracharya nor new age gurus have any business
to meddle in political issues. They neither have the legitimacy nor the
authority. They are not part of the formal political process and are to
be kept out of the public realm. Of course, godmen too are citizens of
this country but they no longer are sole representatives of their
faiths. Hence, to ask the Kanchi Acharya to negotiate a settlement of
the Babri masjid-Ram mandir dispute is patently unfair to those Hindus
who do not look up to him as their spiritual leader.
New age gurus represent an even smaller, though
powerful, number of people, who are ensconced in their pretty enclaves
with little to do with the rest of India. The need to ease out
their influence cults is more immediate than ever. Otherwise, there will
be a repeat of Gujarat elsewhere and the stranglehold of religious
cults on governments would become a reality sooner than later.
There is much to do in India and godmen can lend a
helping hand. Most of them do so, but restrict it largely to
indoctrinating future generations of young men and women to be less
Indian and more Hindu, Muslim or Christian. There is no one art of
living, but there is a staggering plurality of ways in which we might
live. The most ordinary Indian instinctively understands this as long as
he doesn’t fall prey to divisive ideologies or restrictive cults. One
of these many ways of living and living well is to revel in the noise
and chaos of democracy, as spiritual and as sacred for some of us as a
holy text, a godman, or even a pilgrimage.
Jyotirmaya Sharma teaches politics at the University of Hyderabad and is the author of Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism and, most recently, Cosmic Love and Human Apathy: Swami Vivekananda’s Restatement of Religion.
A version of this article was first published by Mail Today in June 2008.
India: Vandana Shiva, the diva on international environmentalists circuit and Sri Sri the hot air guru to rub shoulders in mega World Culture event on banks of polluted yamuna river
Daily O - 09-03-2016
What on earth is 'ecofeminist' Vandana Shiva doing at Sri Sri's event?
Yamuna is under threat, yet the environmental activist's presence at this controversial spirituality gala is deeply troubling.
Amidst the growing outrage over the
killing of Yamuna's floodplains in the name of "Art of Living's 35 years
of service to humanity, spirituality and human values", there is one
person who has still evaded attention: Dr Vandana Shiva of the organic
food chain, Navdanya.
Dr Shiva has acquired global celebrity as India's leading
"ecofeminist", "anti-GMO Rockstar", and a leading "environmental
activist".
Repeated attempts to reach her through email and phone were unsuccessful, her office said she is out of the country.
Dr Shiva's presence at this festival should raise the hackles of everybody who is concerned about the environment.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a young activist
says, "There has always been discomfort with her approach to environment
and her activism. I am not surprised that she is a speaker at this
event but it cannot be possible that she didn't know that it was being
held on the Yamuna floodplains".
Dr Shiva has authored more than twenty books on
biodiversity, ecology and water pollution, she is acclaimed as one of
the original "tree-huggers" during the anti-deforestation movement
called "Chipko" in the 1970s.
International publications like the New Yorker have
credited her with India's decision to not approve even a single
genetically modified food crop, and her company Navdanya (nine seeds) is
now a multi-million dollar enterprise.
 |
| Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Vandana Shiva. |
Her association with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is not new and she
has been a keynote speaker at Art of Living events before. But it is
for the first time that the spiritual guru has come under attack and by
association so has Dr Shiva. Her co-speakers at the leadership forum of
this World Culture Festival include over 97 names, from more than a
dozen countries, from Peru in South America to Bhutan in India's armpit.
Besides half a dozen senior ministers from the BJP including
Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goel, there are mayors and
deputy mayors from countries like Belgium and Netherlands.
One of the speakers is Deepak Kapoor, Chairman of
PriceWaterhouse Coopers, India. PWC claims to have expertise in helping
"organisations achieve growth while embracing sustainable practices".
Most speakers are either heads of businesses or politicians
or chiefs of financial institutions, like the first woman chairperson
of State Bank of India, Arundhati Bhattacharya. There are old football
players like Christoph Daum from Germany and obscure politicians from
Columbia, Suriname and Latvia.
There is another list of speakers for the Youth forum where
except a couple of Indian politicians like Maheish Girri, and Kapil
Sharma, it is impossible to identify these "global youth leaders".
The World Culture Festival's biggest opponents have turned
out to be environmentalists and there concerns were to some extent acted
upon by the National Green Tribunal which has slapped a fine of Rs 5
crores on the Art of Living.
Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee, India's president, has changed
his mind to attend this "celebration of life and human family", as Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar puts it, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also
likely to skip the event.
Vimlendu Jha, an activist who was given a death threat in
front of cameras by pro-Art of Living sadhus, is also surprised by Dr
Vandana Shiva's participation in this event.
"If citizens can understand this is a serious threat to the
Yamuna why can't environmentalists, even though we have been unable to
reach her, we expect her to disassociate herself from this event in
solidarity with the 20,000 people who have signed our petition and
millions of those who are speaking against it", says Jha.
Dr Shiva's carefully cultivated image of an "ecowarrior
goddess" is now under threat, will she speak out and clarify or will she
wait for the storm to be over?
March 07, 2016
India: The army building bridges on Yamuna river for private multi million dollar event being held by a high flying guru called Sri Sri
ndtv.com
Why Army's Building Bridges For Sri Sri Fest: 10 Developments
Cheat Sheet | Reported by Snigdha Basu, Edited by Veer Arjun Singh | Updated: March 07, 2016
New Delhi: Whether the mass festival of world-famous guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar can open this week in Delhi will be decided by the country's top environmental court tomorrow.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
Army has spent more than a week building two bridges which will float on the River Yamuna for the event, which is expected to draw 3.5 million people to the banks of the river and will be opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Army sources who asked not to be named confirmed to NDTV that 120 personnel were assigned to build the bridges, and that after expressing reservations about the task, senior officers made it clear that the organizers must accept liability for any accident that injures attendees.
Government sources said the organizers - Sri Sri's Art of Living Foundation - will be billed for the Army's costs, and that its help was sought because of safety concerns including worries about a stampede, and the attendance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The World Culture Festival, a three-day event, will do serious damage to the delicate ecosystem of Delhi's Yamuna River, activist Anand Arya alleges. He has asked the National Green Tribunal to cancel the festival, which is meant to start on Friday.
President Pranab Mukherjee, who had earlier agreed to attend the opening, along with the PM, has today conveyed that he will not be present.
Sri Sri's Art of Living foundation says the event will feature yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers and traditional cultural performances from around the world.
Sri Sri's Art of Living foundation has denied there will be any permanent impact and says it has secured permission from all the necessary authorities to hold the event. "We have used only eco-friendly material like wood, mud, cloth, and scaffolding towards building a temporary stage," the foundation said in a statement.
"We should be given the red carpet, and awards for organizing the event," said Sri Sri to NDTV, declaring that his intent is to build awareness of the urgent need to clean up a highly contaminated river.
Sri Sri, once ranked by Forbes magazine as India's fifth most powerful person, is seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the pair have meditated together.
The event billed as a platform "for spiritual and religious leaders, politicians, peacemakers and artists to spread the message of global peace and harmony in diversity".
Why Army's Building Bridges For Sri Sri Fest: 10 Developments
Cheat Sheet | Reported by Snigdha Basu, Edited by Veer Arjun Singh | Updated: March 07, 2016
New Delhi: Whether the mass festival of world-famous guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar can open this week in Delhi will be decided by the country's top environmental court tomorrow.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
Army has spent more than a week building two bridges which will float on the River Yamuna for the event, which is expected to draw 3.5 million people to the banks of the river and will be opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Army sources who asked not to be named confirmed to NDTV that 120 personnel were assigned to build the bridges, and that after expressing reservations about the task, senior officers made it clear that the organizers must accept liability for any accident that injures attendees.
Government sources said the organizers - Sri Sri's Art of Living Foundation - will be billed for the Army's costs, and that its help was sought because of safety concerns including worries about a stampede, and the attendance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The World Culture Festival, a three-day event, will do serious damage to the delicate ecosystem of Delhi's Yamuna River, activist Anand Arya alleges. He has asked the National Green Tribunal to cancel the festival, which is meant to start on Friday.
President Pranab Mukherjee, who had earlier agreed to attend the opening, along with the PM, has today conveyed that he will not be present.
Sri Sri's Art of Living foundation says the event will feature yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers and traditional cultural performances from around the world.
Sri Sri's Art of Living foundation has denied there will be any permanent impact and says it has secured permission from all the necessary authorities to hold the event. "We have used only eco-friendly material like wood, mud, cloth, and scaffolding towards building a temporary stage," the foundation said in a statement.
"We should be given the red carpet, and awards for organizing the event," said Sri Sri to NDTV, declaring that his intent is to build awareness of the urgent need to clean up a highly contaminated river.
Sri Sri, once ranked by Forbes magazine as India's fifth most powerful person, is seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the pair have meditated together.
The event billed as a platform "for spiritual and religious leaders, politicians, peacemakers and artists to spread the message of global peace and harmony in diversity".
February 16, 2016
India: 35th Anniversary of the 'Art of Living' Foundation event in Delhi - Encroachment and Destruction of Yamuna Floodplains
Press Release
Urgent : Encroachment and Destruction of Yamuna Floodplains
16th February, 2016 | New Delhi
A
group of public intellectuals and social activists have written a
letter Hon'ble President, Prime minister and concerned government
representatives to stop the encroachment and destruction of Yamuna
Floodplains. The 35th Anniversary
of the 'Art of Living' Foundation, a private organisation formed by Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar ji is scheduled in March, 2016. The work is in
progress, which is destabilising and destructing the ecosystem of river
as floodplains are getting encroached and damaged largely, which used to
play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and health of the
river.
Please go through the letter pasted below and also find the attached pictorial report of Yamuna Floodplains.
------------------------------
[LETTER SENT TO]
To,
1. Shri Pranab Mukherjee,
Hon'ble President of India,
Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi
2. Shri Narendra Modi,
Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,
7, Race Course Road, New Delhi
3. Sushri Uma Bharti,
Union Minister of Water Resources, Ganga Rejuvenation and River Development,
Shramshakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi
4. Shri Prakash Javadekar,
Minister of State of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (IC)
Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh Road, New Delhi
5. Shri Najeeb Jung,
Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
6. Shri Arvind Kejriwal,
Chief Minister, Delhi
7. Vice Chairman,
Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi
Respected Sir and Madam,
Urgent : Encroachment and Destruction of Yamuna Floodplains
The media reports inform about your honour's plans to participate in March 2016 at the planned celebrations of the 35th Anniversary of the 'Art of Living' Foundation, a private organisation formed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji.
Under
the normal circumstances, your participation at any such event would
not raise any issue of concern. However, in the present instance, when
the said event is being planned after clearing, compacting, dumping of
earth and construction underway over some 1000 acres of the active flood
plain of river Yamuna in Delhi, and the matter being sub-judice at the
National Green Tribunal in OA No 65 of 2016 as prima facie the said
preparations are in violation of the NGT judgment of 13 January 2015 in
OA No 6 of 2012 and OA No 300 of 2013, your honour's participation might
appear to lend legitimacy to an illegal activity.
We would like to draw your attention to a pictorial report (enclosed)
that highlights through comparative photos of Sept 15, 2015 and Feb 5,
2016, how a verdant flood plain has got systematically destroyed and is
being converted for the event. It may be added here that Yamuna
floodplains has already suffered many encroachments and this additional
encroachment will only make the situation worse.
According to India’s current National Water policy, “Conservation
of rivers, river corridors, water bodies and infrastructure should be
undertaken in a scientifically planned manner through community
participation… Environmental needs of Himalayan regions, aquatic
eco-system, wet lands and embanked flood plains need to be recognized
and taken into consideration while planning.” In current case, the National Water Policy stands violated.
According to experts the integrity of flood plains of rivers are the river's life lines in the following manner[1]: “Floodplain
waters contain at least 100 times more species than do river channels,
and there is growing evidence that many, if not all, of the species that
live in rivers depend in some way on floodplains. Floodplains are
nature’s water treatment works, removing vast quantities of pollutants
from inland river waters. They also provide rivers with the building
blocks of life, which are used by everything from bacteria to fish”. It is clear that current event is destroying the Yamuna floodplains and all the associated services it provides.
Some
opine that but it is just a small fraction of a large area. But a
violation of rule of law remains a violation, however, small it is shown
to be and sets a bad precedent. Just like a boil that could turn into a
cancer on a human body, every bit of flood plain of a river if lost or
converted jeopardises the river's health. As we all know, Yamuna
riverbed and floodplain already stands encroached.
Some
other's opine that but it is just for few days. Sir, again the event
might be for few days but the devastation that results from its
preparatory and operational phase (specially of the dimension of this
event where some 35 lakh persons are expected to participate and a stage
spread over some 7 acres is planned to be constructed) would outlasts
decades in terms of river Yamuna's health, which already is in no great
shape.
Accordingly
it is our humble request to your honour to kindly reconsider your
plans, so as not to lend legitimacy with your august presence to an
event that is under the NGT's scanner for violation of its prohibition
imposed in January 2015 and is setting such a problematic precedent.
We will look forward to hearing from you,
Yours Sincerely,
1. EAS Sarma, Former Secretary, Govt of India, Vishakhapatnam, eassarma@
2. Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Madhya Pradesh nba.medha@gmail.com
3. Madhu Bhaduri, former ambassador of India, Delhi, madhu.bhaduri@gmail.com
4. Paritosh Tyagi, Chairman & Managing Trustee-IDC Foundation, N Delhi paritoshtyagi@gmail.com
5. Bharat Jhunjhunwala, Former Professor, IIM-B, Uttarakhand, bharatjj@gmail.
6. Dr Latha Anantha, River Research Centre, Thrissur, latha.anantha9@
7. Samir Mehta, River Basin Friends, Mumbai, samir.meht@gmail.com
8. Dr Sudhirendar Sharma, Ecological Foundation, Delhi, sudhirendarsharma@
9. Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand, bhaivimal@gmail.
10. Malika Virdi, Himal Prakriti, Munsiari, Uttarakhand, malika.virdi@
11. Emmanuel Theophilus, Himal Prakriti, Munsiari, Uttarakhand, etheophilus@
12. Ramnarayan. K, Himal Prakriti, Munsiari, Uttarakhand, ramnarayan.k@
13. Parineeta Dandekar, SANDRP, Pune, parinieeta.dandekar@
14. Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP, Delhi, ht.sandrp@gmail.com
August 03, 2014
April 11, 2014
India: Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri and the BJP
Congress approached the Election Commission seeking monitoring of all activities and movements of organisations and persons like RSS, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, claiming they "have been conducting political activities without being registered as a political party". "In the present Lok Sabha elections, persons/organisations other than BJP, namely the RSS, Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have been conducting political activities without being registered as a political party," secretary of All India Congress Committee's Legal Department K C Mittal complained to the EC. He said activities of all such persons/organisations/ associations/groups should be monitored, video-graphed and checked in each of the constituency. Mittal said in the case of yoga guru Baba Ramdev, the Delhi Election Commission appears to have already issued a notice for using yoga camp for political activity without permission of the authorities. The final outcome of the same is not known, he added. "However, his primary activities are only to conduct yoga camp, and manufacture and sale ayurveda medicines.
Similarly, RSS claims to be a social and cultural organisation whereas Sri Sri Ravi Shankar runs centres for 'art of living'." Mittal alleged that "huge expenditure" is being incurred by these organisations on such campaigning for BJP nominees unauthorisedly. "The campaign is being carried out without complying with the instructions of the Commission and other requirements of law. Unfortunately, all of them are indulging in political activities without following the norms laid down by the Election Commission," he claimed. "In order to prima facie show the nature of their political activities, the attention of the Hon'ble Commission is drawn to a camp held by Ramdev at Ramlila Maidan on March 23, his latest camp for Manoj Tiwari, a BJP candidate", he said. At Ramlila Maidan, Acharya Govind Dev Giri, who had come from Varanasi, recited verses from the Bhagwat Geeta and talked about holy cow and Hindutva in the presence of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and sought votes for him, Mittal said.
TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami speaks exclusively Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Spiritual guru, about his stand on Congress and BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
April 07, 2014
India: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar released book of Nitin Gadkari's speeches in 2011; remains close to the party bosses
Daily News and Analysis
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar releases book of Nitin Gadkari's speeches
Saturday, 8 October 2011 - 9:32pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: IANS
The book titled Vikas Ke Path was released in the presence of RSS and BJP leaders including LK Advani.
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Saturday released a book containing the speeches of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari with a call to "spiritualise politics and guide every political action" by ethics.
The book in Hindi, titled Vikas Ke Path (Road to Development), was released in the presence of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and BJP leaders including LK Advani.
Sri Sri said there was a need to "spiritualise politics, socialise business and secularise reliegion".
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar releases book of Nitin Gadkari's speeches
Saturday, 8 October 2011 - 9:32pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: IANS
The book titled Vikas Ke Path was released in the presence of RSS and BJP leaders including LK Advani.
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Saturday released a book containing the speeches of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari with a call to "spiritualise politics and guide every political action" by ethics.
The book in Hindi, titled Vikas Ke Path (Road to Development), was released in the presence of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and BJP leaders including LK Advani.
Sri Sri said there was a need to "spiritualise politics, socialise business and secularise reliegion".
November 12, 2012
Gujarat: religious programmes during elections keep's Hindutva sentiment brewing in the backdrop
From: Daily News and Analysis
Gujarat polls: Subtle Hindutva wave for poll battle?
Published: Monday, Nov 12, 2012, 11:56 IST
By Paras K Jha | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA
With chief minister Narendra Modi wooing the Muslim community and also projecting himself as ‘Vikas Purush’, it seemed Hindutva as a political force had run its course in Gujarat. But it cannot be mere coincidence that a large number of religious programmes — all ‘planned months before the assembly polls’ — are to be held during election time.
It seems plans are afoot to create an undercurrent of Hindutva for voters’ consumption but what is not clear is who will benefit from it this time. Social scientists are of the view that this Hindutva undercurrent will help not only the BJP but also Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat People’s Party (GPP).
Baba Ramdev’s yoga camps were held recently in various parts of Saurashtra and South Gujarat where elections are be held in the first phase. Shri Shri Ravi Shankar’s events in north and central parts of Gujarat will be held on four days around Diwali.A three-day national convention — Rashtriya Vedic Dharm Mahadhiveshan — has been organised from November 17 at the shrine of Sufi saint, Imam Shah Bava, at Pirana near Ahmedabad. The Imam Shah dargah is at the heart of a dispute between Hindus and Muslims as the dargah has devotees from both communities.
Morari Bapu will be delivering his Ram Katha from December 8 to 16 at Karnavati Club in Ahmedabad. It may be mentioned here that elections in the city will be held on December 17, a day after the Ram Katha concludes.
Social scientists, however, feel that Hinudtva is always present in Gujarati society and one has to do little to keep it alive. Religious events planned for election time and even issues like the death of two boys who were students at Asharam Bapu’s ashram, could subtly affect voters during polls. But the beneficiary this time will not only be the BJP but also the GPP, say sociologists and political scientists.Veteran social scientist Prof Rohit Shukla said that without the visible support of the VHP and the RSS, the BJP in Gujarat is feeling frustrated.
“For this reason, there are efforts to activate small religious groups which have limited following. This shows that the Hindutva section of society is moving away from the Sangh Parivar,” Shukla said. He further said that under chief minister Narendra Modi, the BJP in Gujarat had become something like a regional party.
“Moreover, there is now GPP in the fray and Keshubhai’s party too has a Hindutva image. It should not be forgotten that it was under Keshubhai’s leadership that the BJP had registered its first impressive victory. During this election, voters with a Hindutva mindset have the GPP as an alternative to Modi’s BJP,” Shukla said.
Prof Ghanshyam Shah, former professor of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, agrees that the BJP under Modi had been reduced to the status of a regional party in Gujarat.
He further said that Hindutva as a sentiment was still present in Gujarat society and that religious events held during election time may help not only the BJP but also the GPP.
“Swadhyaya activities, Morari Bapu’s Ram Katha, Asharam Bapu’s ashram and other activities which began in the 1970s have created a Hindutva sentiment in Gujarat that will continue for some time in one form or another. For this Hindutva, there is no difference between the BJP and Keshubhai,” Shah said. He, however, added that it is very difficult to say how Hindutva-minded voters will vote in the upcoming elections.
Gujarat polls: Subtle Hindutva wave for poll battle?
Published: Monday, Nov 12, 2012, 11:56 IST
By Paras K Jha | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA
With chief minister Narendra Modi wooing the Muslim community and also projecting himself as ‘Vikas Purush’, it seemed Hindutva as a political force had run its course in Gujarat. But it cannot be mere coincidence that a large number of religious programmes — all ‘planned months before the assembly polls’ — are to be held during election time.
It seems plans are afoot to create an undercurrent of Hindutva for voters’ consumption but what is not clear is who will benefit from it this time. Social scientists are of the view that this Hindutva undercurrent will help not only the BJP but also Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat People’s Party (GPP).
Baba Ramdev’s yoga camps were held recently in various parts of Saurashtra and South Gujarat where elections are be held in the first phase. Shri Shri Ravi Shankar’s events in north and central parts of Gujarat will be held on four days around Diwali.A three-day national convention — Rashtriya Vedic Dharm Mahadhiveshan — has been organised from November 17 at the shrine of Sufi saint, Imam Shah Bava, at Pirana near Ahmedabad. The Imam Shah dargah is at the heart of a dispute between Hindus and Muslims as the dargah has devotees from both communities.
Morari Bapu will be delivering his Ram Katha from December 8 to 16 at Karnavati Club in Ahmedabad. It may be mentioned here that elections in the city will be held on December 17, a day after the Ram Katha concludes.
Social scientists, however, feel that Hinudtva is always present in Gujarati society and one has to do little to keep it alive. Religious events planned for election time and even issues like the death of two boys who were students at Asharam Bapu’s ashram, could subtly affect voters during polls. But the beneficiary this time will not only be the BJP but also the GPP, say sociologists and political scientists.Veteran social scientist Prof Rohit Shukla said that without the visible support of the VHP and the RSS, the BJP in Gujarat is feeling frustrated.
“For this reason, there are efforts to activate small religious groups which have limited following. This shows that the Hindutva section of society is moving away from the Sangh Parivar,” Shukla said. He further said that under chief minister Narendra Modi, the BJP in Gujarat had become something like a regional party.
“Moreover, there is now GPP in the fray and Keshubhai’s party too has a Hindutva image. It should not be forgotten that it was under Keshubhai’s leadership that the BJP had registered its first impressive victory. During this election, voters with a Hindutva mindset have the GPP as an alternative to Modi’s BJP,” Shukla said.
Prof Ghanshyam Shah, former professor of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, agrees that the BJP under Modi had been reduced to the status of a regional party in Gujarat.
He further said that Hindutva as a sentiment was still present in Gujarat society and that religious events held during election time may help not only the BJP but also the GPP.
“Swadhyaya activities, Morari Bapu’s Ram Katha, Asharam Bapu’s ashram and other activities which began in the 1970s have created a Hindutva sentiment in Gujarat that will continue for some time in one form or another. For this Hindutva, there is no difference between the BJP and Keshubhai,” Shah said. He, however, added that it is very difficult to say how Hindutva-minded voters will vote in the upcoming elections.
November 15, 2011
Sri Sri Ravishankar and Art of Politics
by Ram Puniyani
AS ELECTIONS in Uttar Pradesh are nearing, so is the number of travels by spiritual gurus. These gurus are giving their discourses against corruption. (November 2011). The major ones amongst them are Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Sri Sri). Sri Sri has shared space with Anna and played a considerable role when the government had arrested Anna. Sri Sri came to play the role of an interlocutor between Anna and his followers, during his prison stint. As if by a divine design, yoga guru Ramdev and Sri Sri have suddenly realised this menace of corruption and have plunged themselves head long into the anti corruption movement.
So, the teachings of Ramdev have a supplementary dose of anti corruption teachings added on to it. Similarly Sri Sri’s ‘Art of Living’ has now the additional flavour of anti corruption sermons. While this is going on, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has alleged that Ramdev, Anna and Sri Sri are team members of RSS. Ramdev is known to be close to BJP and had also toyed with the idea of floating his own political party. However, Sri Sri never talked on similar lines, and has maintained that he has nothing to do with politics. According to him his UP tour is a mere extension of what he has been doing, making people take oath against corruption.
And, now Digvijay Singh has gone hoarse, claiming Sri Sri has a political agenda and he is Team C of RSS. Does Sri Sri have no political agenda? Or is he a part of RSS pantheon? Surely one can guess that Sri Sri may not have attended the Shakha bauddhiks (intellectual sessions conducted in RSS branches, known asShakhas) and might not have worn khaki shorts and saluted the saffron flag in RSS shakhas. But yet, Sri Sri is surely a part of a scheme to influence electoral politics. Having said that, let’s understand that electoral politics is not the only form of politics influencing the society; it is also done by social movements and awareness programmes.
Bills cannot be passed on the streets and not under pressure. The government had accepted and is furiously working in that direction. Despite that the threats from team Anna are on and team Anna actively worked against the ruling Congress in Hisar elections. It seems there is more to the Anna upsurge than just the JLB or anti Corruption issue. They are having a deeper agenda, and Sri Sri is very much a part of it. Earlier the bill for Right to Information, NREGA etc were brought in, anti Corruption bill is in the offing, than why such a pressure from Team Anna and associated gurus. This just reconfirms that there is more to Anna movement than meets the eye.
The political agenda of this movement is much deeper than what is apparent at the surface. One needs to question whether under the garb of spirituality a particular type of politics is being strengthened. Sri Sri had a phenomenonal rise during last three decades. To beat the stress of today’s working youth, Sri Sri has devised Sudarshan Kriya, based on the breathing exercises from the past traditions of India. Today, he is in league with many a God-men, people like late Bhagwan Satya Sai, Asaram Bapu, Baba Ramdev, propagating values of a particular type. While these godmen are selling tranquilising therapies, ‘keep fit regimes’ on one side, on the other they also support the prevalent social dynamics in the society. The ‘deeper changes’ to ensure the rights of weaker sections of society is what we should strive for. On the contrary the type of politics, which comes in the garb of religion, propagates the values which are opposed to the politics of affirmative action for weaker sections of society. The godmen are rubbing shoulders with the Nitin Gadkaris. Narendra Modis, Ram Madhavs and the like. So logically they are the one’s touring the state where election is due and they know on whose side they are canvassing in a subtle fashion. Such type of politics, laced in color of religion, is tied to the apron strings of a Hindu Rashtra, which in turn is being spearheaded by RSS.
WHILE SPEAKING on the eradication of corruption a noble sentiment, there is obvious rise of parallel movement of Anna and initiatives of Godmen on the issue. There simultaneity is striking. RSS chief claims that he talked to Anna Hazare to take up this issue. It is appalling as to how this triad of Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri realised the need for anti Corruption movement all at the same point of time? And, of course, the RSS rushed its swayamsevaks in this movement all over the country without a minutes delay. Mere coincidence? No way! While talking against corruption is good, the question is why is there no talk about female foeticide, atrocities against dalits and violence against minorities? The spiritual guru, one hopes, is aware that these issues are prevalent in our society. Why no support for ‘right to food’ issue, or why no support to eradicate communal violence? And last but not the least how come there is such a perfect match in what Sri Sri believes and what RSS-BJP want on the issues related to minorities, reservations for dalits, etc?
AS ELECTIONS in Uttar Pradesh are nearing, so is the number of travels by spiritual gurus. These gurus are giving their discourses against corruption. (November 2011). The major ones amongst them are Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Sri Sri). Sri Sri has shared space with Anna and played a considerable role when the government had arrested Anna. Sri Sri came to play the role of an interlocutor between Anna and his followers, during his prison stint. As if by a divine design, yoga guru Ramdev and Sri Sri have suddenly realised this menace of corruption and have plunged themselves head long into the anti corruption movement.
So, the teachings of Ramdev have a supplementary dose of anti corruption teachings added on to it. Similarly Sri Sri’s ‘Art of Living’ has now the additional flavour of anti corruption sermons. While this is going on, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has alleged that Ramdev, Anna and Sri Sri are team members of RSS. Ramdev is known to be close to BJP and had also toyed with the idea of floating his own political party. However, Sri Sri never talked on similar lines, and has maintained that he has nothing to do with politics. According to him his UP tour is a mere extension of what he has been doing, making people take oath against corruption.
And, now Digvijay Singh has gone hoarse, claiming Sri Sri has a political agenda and he is Team C of RSS. Does Sri Sri have no political agenda? Or is he a part of RSS pantheon? Surely one can guess that Sri Sri may not have attended the Shakha bauddhiks (intellectual sessions conducted in RSS branches, known asShakhas) and might not have worn khaki shorts and saluted the saffron flag in RSS shakhas. But yet, Sri Sri is surely a part of a scheme to influence electoral politics. Having said that, let’s understand that electoral politics is not the only form of politics influencing the society; it is also done by social movements and awareness programmes.
Bills cannot be passed on the streets and not under pressure. The government had accepted and is furiously working in that direction. Despite that the threats from team Anna are on and team Anna actively worked against the ruling Congress in Hisar elections. It seems there is more to the Anna upsurge than just the JLB or anti Corruption issue. They are having a deeper agenda, and Sri Sri is very much a part of it. Earlier the bill for Right to Information, NREGA etc were brought in, anti Corruption bill is in the offing, than why such a pressure from Team Anna and associated gurus. This just reconfirms that there is more to Anna movement than meets the eye.
The political agenda of this movement is much deeper than what is apparent at the surface. One needs to question whether under the garb of spirituality a particular type of politics is being strengthened. Sri Sri had a phenomenonal rise during last three decades. To beat the stress of today’s working youth, Sri Sri has devised Sudarshan Kriya, based on the breathing exercises from the past traditions of India. Today, he is in league with many a God-men, people like late Bhagwan Satya Sai, Asaram Bapu, Baba Ramdev, propagating values of a particular type. While these godmen are selling tranquilising therapies, ‘keep fit regimes’ on one side, on the other they also support the prevalent social dynamics in the society. The ‘deeper changes’ to ensure the rights of weaker sections of society is what we should strive for. On the contrary the type of politics, which comes in the garb of religion, propagates the values which are opposed to the politics of affirmative action for weaker sections of society. The godmen are rubbing shoulders with the Nitin Gadkaris. Narendra Modis, Ram Madhavs and the like. So logically they are the one’s touring the state where election is due and they know on whose side they are canvassing in a subtle fashion. Such type of politics, laced in color of religion, is tied to the apron strings of a Hindu Rashtra, which in turn is being spearheaded by RSS.
WHILE SPEAKING on the eradication of corruption a noble sentiment, there is obvious rise of parallel movement of Anna and initiatives of Godmen on the issue. There simultaneity is striking. RSS chief claims that he talked to Anna Hazare to take up this issue. It is appalling as to how this triad of Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri realised the need for anti Corruption movement all at the same point of time? And, of course, the RSS rushed its swayamsevaks in this movement all over the country without a minutes delay. Mere coincidence? No way! While talking against corruption is good, the question is why is there no talk about female foeticide, atrocities against dalits and violence against minorities? The spiritual guru, one hopes, is aware that these issues are prevalent in our society. Why no support for ‘right to food’ issue, or why no support to eradicate communal violence? And last but not the least how come there is such a perfect match in what Sri Sri believes and what RSS-BJP want on the issues related to minorities, reservations for dalits, etc?
September 07, 2011
A tale of two movements
From: The Times of India
by Amita Baviskar
September 6, 2011
The agitation for the Jan Lokpal Bill (JLB) is being hailed as ‘unprecedented’ and as a ‘second freedom struggle’. More grounded analysts have likened it to the Navanirman movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s. However, a more apt comparison lies closer at hand.
Less than six years ago, Parliament enacted a national Right to Information Act. This was a major victory for the RTI campaign which aimed to empower people to fight corruption and malgovernance. It mobilised a nationwide network of support, bringing together activists, NGOs and ordinary citizens, and effectively using media and middle-class interlocutors. India Against Corruption (IAC), the coalition leading the present campaign, shares the goals and the networking strategy of the earlier campaign, and its leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Anna Hazare were closely associated with it.
Yet, the differences between the two campaigns are striking as well as instructive. The RTI campaign and the JLB campaign both strive for greater government accountability, but their ideologies, modes of organisation, support base and strategies diverge in important ways. Understanding these differences is crucial if the Lokpal Bill, once enacted, is to achieve its stated goal.
The RTI campaign grew out of the experiences of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), the jan sangathan (people’s organisation) in rural Rajasthan which had, for two decades, fought corruption in village development works. The MKSS pioneered the use of jan sunvai or public hearings as a technique to empower villagers to ‘speak truth to power’, challenging an opaque, oppressive and corrupt system of governance. The jan sunvai’s success depended on systematic preparation to mobilise people to testify, collect information and check its accuracy. The groundswell of public anger against abuse of public funds was harnessed to create a coordinated campaign led by trained local activists.
From the villages, MKSS took its campaign to the district and state level, staging determined demonstrations that attracted the middle classes and intellectuals, before leading the national RTI campaign. The national network was more eclectic; it included not only jan sangathans like the MKSS, but also individual anti-corruption activists like Anna Hazare and Shailesh Gandhi. Notably, the RTI campaign aligned itself with the National Alliance of Peoples Movements, sangathans of the rural and urban poor fighting against dispossession. This organisational base gave the RTI campaign a solid political credibility.
The JLB campaign shows a distinctly different trajectory. Even though Kejriwal’s Parivartan, which battled corruption in ration shops in two Delhi slums, was a jan sangathan, its base was too limited to launch a nationwide campaign. The other campaign leaders – Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and Hazare – also cannot muster a trained cadre of activists. The JLB campaign has mobilised participants in two ways: through social networking and the media; and via regional chapters of Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s congregations.
The coming together of a predominantly young, white-collar constituency that communicates through text messages and Facebook, lower-middle-class followers of Baba Ramdev, and the professional classes that practise the Art of Living gives the JLB campaign the strength of numbers as well as the image of appearing all-inclusive. However, this strength may dissipate once the Bill is passed. Mobilising crowds for a successful agitation is one thing; having a committed and trained activist base to convert that success into long-term institutional change is quite another.
If the RTI campaign embraced sangathans with an Independent Left ideology, the political beliefs of the participants in the JLB campaign are harder to pin down. Eight of the 20 founders of India Against Corruption are religious figures, of whom only Swami Agnivesh can be described as a champion of jan sangathans. The rest voice patriotic sentiments and anti-government hostility without a clear analysis of how the systemic problems that plague public affairs will be tackled. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s previous social initiatives have been of doubtful value (cleaning the sewage-laden Yamuna by picking up garbage from the riverfront) and marked by dubious claims (11,000 Naxalites ‘converted’ to the Art of Living).
While other founders like Hazare and Bedi have a reputation for personal probity and courage, they endorse a form of individualist authoritarian action that’s applauded by a public hungry for vigilante heroes. The JLB thus represents a shift in the political spectrum: from the left-of-centre democratic decentralisation of the RTI campaign, to the right-of-centre legal-technical-fix of India Against Corruption.
The test of any law lies in its implementation. Much disquiet has already been expressed about the overly-centralised design of the JLB and the impracticability of the mammoth bureaucratic machinery it demands. However, making a law work also requires a mobilised public, a dedicated and organised network at every level that will keep up the pressure on public institutions. The ideologies, organisational structure and support base of the JLB campaign do not indicate that it is capable of such long-term and systematic social action.
The RTI campaign’s activist base has allowed it to sustain an arduous struggle against corruption, but the challenges have been formidable. It remains to be seen how the JLB campaign will equip itself to walk the talk, and translate strident demands into effective action.
The writer is a sociologist at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.
by Amita Baviskar
September 6, 2011
The agitation for the Jan Lokpal Bill (JLB) is being hailed as ‘unprecedented’ and as a ‘second freedom struggle’. More grounded analysts have likened it to the Navanirman movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s. However, a more apt comparison lies closer at hand.
Less than six years ago, Parliament enacted a national Right to Information Act. This was a major victory for the RTI campaign which aimed to empower people to fight corruption and malgovernance. It mobilised a nationwide network of support, bringing together activists, NGOs and ordinary citizens, and effectively using media and middle-class interlocutors. India Against Corruption (IAC), the coalition leading the present campaign, shares the goals and the networking strategy of the earlier campaign, and its leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Anna Hazare were closely associated with it.
Yet, the differences between the two campaigns are striking as well as instructive. The RTI campaign and the JLB campaign both strive for greater government accountability, but their ideologies, modes of organisation, support base and strategies diverge in important ways. Understanding these differences is crucial if the Lokpal Bill, once enacted, is to achieve its stated goal.
The RTI campaign grew out of the experiences of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), the jan sangathan (people’s organisation) in rural Rajasthan which had, for two decades, fought corruption in village development works. The MKSS pioneered the use of jan sunvai or public hearings as a technique to empower villagers to ‘speak truth to power’, challenging an opaque, oppressive and corrupt system of governance. The jan sunvai’s success depended on systematic preparation to mobilise people to testify, collect information and check its accuracy. The groundswell of public anger against abuse of public funds was harnessed to create a coordinated campaign led by trained local activists.
From the villages, MKSS took its campaign to the district and state level, staging determined demonstrations that attracted the middle classes and intellectuals, before leading the national RTI campaign. The national network was more eclectic; it included not only jan sangathans like the MKSS, but also individual anti-corruption activists like Anna Hazare and Shailesh Gandhi. Notably, the RTI campaign aligned itself with the National Alliance of Peoples Movements, sangathans of the rural and urban poor fighting against dispossession. This organisational base gave the RTI campaign a solid political credibility.
The JLB campaign shows a distinctly different trajectory. Even though Kejriwal’s Parivartan, which battled corruption in ration shops in two Delhi slums, was a jan sangathan, its base was too limited to launch a nationwide campaign. The other campaign leaders – Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and Hazare – also cannot muster a trained cadre of activists. The JLB campaign has mobilised participants in two ways: through social networking and the media; and via regional chapters of Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s congregations.
The coming together of a predominantly young, white-collar constituency that communicates through text messages and Facebook, lower-middle-class followers of Baba Ramdev, and the professional classes that practise the Art of Living gives the JLB campaign the strength of numbers as well as the image of appearing all-inclusive. However, this strength may dissipate once the Bill is passed. Mobilising crowds for a successful agitation is one thing; having a committed and trained activist base to convert that success into long-term institutional change is quite another.
If the RTI campaign embraced sangathans with an Independent Left ideology, the political beliefs of the participants in the JLB campaign are harder to pin down. Eight of the 20 founders of India Against Corruption are religious figures, of whom only Swami Agnivesh can be described as a champion of jan sangathans. The rest voice patriotic sentiments and anti-government hostility without a clear analysis of how the systemic problems that plague public affairs will be tackled. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s previous social initiatives have been of doubtful value (cleaning the sewage-laden Yamuna by picking up garbage from the riverfront) and marked by dubious claims (11,000 Naxalites ‘converted’ to the Art of Living).
While other founders like Hazare and Bedi have a reputation for personal probity and courage, they endorse a form of individualist authoritarian action that’s applauded by a public hungry for vigilante heroes. The JLB thus represents a shift in the political spectrum: from the left-of-centre democratic decentralisation of the RTI campaign, to the right-of-centre legal-technical-fix of India Against Corruption.
The test of any law lies in its implementation. Much disquiet has already been expressed about the overly-centralised design of the JLB and the impracticability of the mammoth bureaucratic machinery it demands. However, making a law work also requires a mobilised public, a dedicated and organised network at every level that will keep up the pressure on public institutions. The ideologies, organisational structure and support base of the JLB campaign do not indicate that it is capable of such long-term and systematic social action.
The RTI campaign’s activist base has allowed it to sustain an arduous struggle against corruption, but the challenges have been formidable. It remains to be seen how the JLB campaign will equip itself to walk the talk, and translate strident demands into effective action.
The writer is a sociologist at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.
October 01, 2009
Defending of the very worst of Hindu obscurantism in the name of choice
ndtv.com
September 30, 2009 , India
Do women always face the brunt of tradition?
24 min 55 sec
In a shocking incident from Tamil Nadu, thousands of women and some small girls were brutally whipped for hours at a temple.
September 30, 2009 , India
Do women always face the brunt of tradition?
24 min 55 sec
In a shocking incident from Tamil Nadu, thousands of women and some small girls were brutally whipped for hours at a temple.
October 22, 2008
Ram Guha on that long haired ravi shankar from Bangalore
outlookindia.com
Nobel Longings
After my talk, a lady comes up and introduces herself as a doctor, and an advisor to the Peace Institute. The names I had mentioned were all very good, she said, but surely it was time that the peace prize went to an Indian? She mentions the name of a fellow townsman of mine, a man who has grown long hair, given himself four fancy initials (HH/SS), and whose name is also that of a very great exponent of the sitar.
The Norwegian doctor had heard that this man had brought peace to Kashmir, and had promoted organic agriculture in thousands of Indian villages. She had been asked to promote his candidacy for the prize, and indeed the man himself had been to Oslo several times recently. She asked me if I would give my opinion on the matter.
I answered that so far as I knew, there was no peace in Kashmir. I observed that what the West refers to as ‘organic farming’ we knew as rain-fed agriculture—and that it is nothing new. Where there was no canal water and where they had little capital, millions of Indian farmers had, for the past thousands of years, grown crops without the use of any chemicals (and without any spiritual counselling) whatsoever.
Finally, I suggested to the doctor that if not giving Gandhi the prize was a scandal, awarding it to my fellow townsman would be an even bigger scandal.
Nobel Longings
After my talk, a lady comes up and introduces herself as a doctor, and an advisor to the Peace Institute. The names I had mentioned were all very good, she said, but surely it was time that the peace prize went to an Indian? She mentions the name of a fellow townsman of mine, a man who has grown long hair, given himself four fancy initials (HH/SS), and whose name is also that of a very great exponent of the sitar.
The Norwegian doctor had heard that this man had brought peace to Kashmir, and had promoted organic agriculture in thousands of Indian villages. She had been asked to promote his candidacy for the prize, and indeed the man himself had been to Oslo several times recently. She asked me if I would give my opinion on the matter.
I answered that so far as I knew, there was no peace in Kashmir. I observed that what the West refers to as ‘organic farming’ we knew as rain-fed agriculture—and that it is nothing new. Where there was no canal water and where they had little capital, millions of Indian farmers had, for the past thousands of years, grown crops without the use of any chemicals (and without any spiritual counselling) whatsoever.
Finally, I suggested to the doctor that if not giving Gandhi the prize was a scandal, awarding it to my fellow townsman would be an even bigger scandal.
August 13, 2008
Secularism Goes to Dogs: Now Sri Sri Fart of Living is Delhi's emissary in Kashmir
The Hindu
August 14, 2008
Centre’s emissary in J&K
by Praveen Swami
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar meets Islamist leaders in Srinagar
Photo: Nissar Ahmad
CONTINUING DISSENT: Women stage a protest in Srinagar on Wednesday after the death of a person who was injured in a police firing during the march to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, on Monday. —
SRINAGAR: Hindu spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar arrived here on Wednesday for a controversial eleventh-hour peace mission supported by the Union government.
Mr. Ravi Shankar met Islamist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads the hardline Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, as well as the Srinagar cleric and All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in a back-channel effort to hammer out a peace deal between Islamists in Kashmir and Hindutva groups in Jammu.
Few details were available of the meetings, but sources in the Tehreek-i-Hurriyat said Mr. Geelani urged his visitor to persuade Hindu groups in Jammu to end their violent protest.
Governor N.N. Vohra’s office was unavailable for comment on Mr. Ravi Shankar’s mission, but official sources said Mr. Ravi Shankar had been accorded the status of an official state guest for the duration of his visit. The spiritual leader was received at Srinagar airport by the staff of the State government’s protocol division, normally handling high-level political visits, and then taken to an official guest house.
The government said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had been in touch with both secessionist leaders since the outbreak of the Shrine Board violence in July.
In identically-worded letters sent to Mr. Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq last month, copies of which is with The Hindu, Mr. Ravi Shankar had asked that whether through the government or anyone else, the Shrine Board or any other institution, basic sanitation, medical treatment, food, shelter and other facilities must be provided to the yatris.
He asked that just as the Haj pilgrims enjoy the support of the government, basic facilities must be provided to the pilgrims visiting the Amarnath shrine.
However, he also made the suggestion that if the majority of the population in Kashmir is in favour of autonomy, Jammu and Kashmir should be made into separate states, a highly-controversial long-standing demand of the Hindu religious right.
Mr. Ravi Shankar is the latest in a long series of quasi-official mediators deployed by the Government of India in so-far unsuccessful efforts to open lines of communication with Islamists in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier figures in this back-channel dialogue have included Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, lawyer Ashok Bhan, commentator Prem Shankar Jha and former Research and Analysis wing chief Amarjit Dulat.
However, Mr. Ravi Shankar is the first spiritual leader to be involved in this dialogue.
August 14, 2008
Centre’s emissary in J&K
by Praveen Swami
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar meets Islamist leaders in Srinagar
Photo: Nissar Ahmad
CONTINUING DISSENT: Women stage a protest in Srinagar on Wednesday after the death of a person who was injured in a police firing during the march to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, on Monday. —
SRINAGAR: Hindu spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar arrived here on Wednesday for a controversial eleventh-hour peace mission supported by the Union government.
Mr. Ravi Shankar met Islamist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads the hardline Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, as well as the Srinagar cleric and All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in a back-channel effort to hammer out a peace deal between Islamists in Kashmir and Hindutva groups in Jammu.
Few details were available of the meetings, but sources in the Tehreek-i-Hurriyat said Mr. Geelani urged his visitor to persuade Hindu groups in Jammu to end their violent protest.
Governor N.N. Vohra’s office was unavailable for comment on Mr. Ravi Shankar’s mission, but official sources said Mr. Ravi Shankar had been accorded the status of an official state guest for the duration of his visit. The spiritual leader was received at Srinagar airport by the staff of the State government’s protocol division, normally handling high-level political visits, and then taken to an official guest house.
The government said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had been in touch with both secessionist leaders since the outbreak of the Shrine Board violence in July.
In identically-worded letters sent to Mr. Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq last month, copies of which is with The Hindu, Mr. Ravi Shankar had asked that whether through the government or anyone else, the Shrine Board or any other institution, basic sanitation, medical treatment, food, shelter and other facilities must be provided to the yatris.
He asked that just as the Haj pilgrims enjoy the support of the government, basic facilities must be provided to the pilgrims visiting the Amarnath shrine.
However, he also made the suggestion that if the majority of the population in Kashmir is in favour of autonomy, Jammu and Kashmir should be made into separate states, a highly-controversial long-standing demand of the Hindu religious right.
Mr. Ravi Shankar is the latest in a long series of quasi-official mediators deployed by the Government of India in so-far unsuccessful efforts to open lines of communication with Islamists in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier figures in this back-channel dialogue have included Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, lawyer Ashok Bhan, commentator Prem Shankar Jha and former Research and Analysis wing chief Amarjit Dulat.
However, Mr. Ravi Shankar is the first spiritual leader to be involved in this dialogue.
August 08, 2008
God, Godmen and BJP and co. for political, religious and environmental causes
(Source: livemint.com, 5 august 2008)
BJP looks to reach moderate masses
The VHP is enlisting Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, Morari Bapu and Asaram Bapu to create an alliance marrying political, religious and environmental causes
by Priyanka P. Narain
Mumbai: You cant ask for a better brand ambassador than God.
And so starting next month, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is enlisting Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, Morari Bapu and Asaram Bapu to create an alliance marrying political, religious and environmental causes.
The strategy taps into the godmen’s oft larger-than-life presence among followers to bolster support for the VHP’s main political ally—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—in the next general election.
While the marriage of religion and politics is nothing new, analysts say there appears to be an effort to reach out to more moderate Hindus, who won’t be swayed on religious issues, such as where Ram was born, but might be on others, such as cleaning the Ganges.
POLITICAL MANTRA (PDF)
Ramdev, for example, has repeatedly said his movement is not a religious one, but focuses on leading a more peaceful and balanced life through yoga and meditation.
Beginning in September, he will help launch the first part of a nationwide campaign to save the Ganges.
“We will have constructive agitations. Along the river, people will come together to pray, meditate and do pranayam,” said Surendra Tijarawala, spokesman for Ramdev, the convener of the Ganga Raksha Manch. “The river has been abused for long enough. No more. This river is a symbol of the Hindu civilization that was nurtured by its holy waters. It is time we give back what we are taking from it.”
The alliance is an intentional about-face from another forged in 1990 by the VHP with the support of pontiffs such as the Shankaracharyas, or the heads of monasteries, and sadhus.
That year, when BJP leader L.K. Advani launched a 6,000km “Ram Janmabhoomi” campaign to save the birthplace of the Hindu king, none of those religious leaders had followings outside a group of traditional followers, unlike the current alliance.
And the pitch of that campaign to save Ram’s birthplace at the expense of the Babri Mosque—and the bloodshed that followed—scared away moderate Hindus and soured the party’s image.
This time, observers say, the case will be different as the four gurus involved have historically positioned themselves more as humanitarians than religious leaders.
Observers say the four gurus have positioned themselves as humanitarians rather than religious leaders
It is expected they can together reach millions of mostly moderate followers in India’s 600,000 villages and the disapora in more than 160 countries with a joint message to save the river, save Adam’s Bridge (which some Hindus call Ram Sethu, the bridge built by Ram to Sri Lanka) from dredging, and to preserve temples from both ruin and government interference.
Already, in Haridwar, Hinduism’s political organizations have begun using these gurus to speak on these issues with anecdotal success. Whether their embrace of politics will potentially alienate those who just turn to them for a daily message of renewal, or a more flexible yoga pose could not be ascertained.
Morari Bapu is a popular kathakaar (preacher), known for giving sermons that last as long as nine days. Asaram Bapu is a spiritual guru based in Ahmedabad; police are investigating the deaths of two boys last week at his ashram. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation aims torelieve stress at an individual level, and to relieve disease and violence at a societal level.
Through a spokesman, the founder said environmental degradation and global warming is a major crisis facing the world today, and that his role in the Ganga Raksha Manch is part of a multi-pronged approach the group is taking.
Shital Parikh, a Mumbai-based homemaker, is an ardent follower, but says she has never been political. Still, she says she’s happy to join the causes mentioned. “First is that we need to conserve our natural resources as a country. Second is that this is to save our culture. Guruji is taking leadership to conserve and save. Of course, I will participate in any way he wants me to,” she said.
Expecting others to mirror her trust and devotion, organizers remain hopeful their strategy will work. “No government can face such pressure. It is unlike anything we have ever done before,” said Vyankatesh Abdeo, general secretary at the VHP. “We are handing over leadership to the spiritual leaders of this country and trust that they will advise their followers well.”
The second part of the campaign begins on the day after Dussehra, when Hindus celebrate the victory of good over evil mythologically exemplified by the day Ram vanquished Ravana.
“That day we will begin rath (chariot) yatras across the country. The first chariot will carry a Ganga-kalash, a pot containing Ganges water, an image of the Ram Sethu and an image of the proposed temple at Ayodhya,” said Abdeo. “The sadhus will address rallies along the way telling people to do vote for the party that can deliver.”
Observers say this new strategy of involving gurus with mass appeal, if executed well, could help the BJP.
G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, a political analyst and Mint columnist, notes that the makings of an alliance were already visible when Ramdev appeared at the book launch of Advani’s autobiography, My Country My Life, earlier this year.
Ramdev told the crowd that India needs a prime minister like Advani, according to Rao.
“It all depends on how they do it. VHP and RSS are considered the Hindu hotheads. But these gurus have a lot of mass goodwill behind them. So, if they keep the pitch reasonable, this might work,” Rao said.
Efforts are being made to keep it reasonable. At Ramdev’s ashram, Tijarawala said the main focus remains declaring the Ganges a national heritage and saving the Ram Sethu, the controversial site of a project to dredge the walkway between India and Sri Lanka to shorten shipping routes.
Tijarawala said Ramdev was less committed to the building of a Ram temple, calling that issue “a political game of votes”. He added: “This country is a country of many religions. That is its strength. So, the solution to the Ramjanmabhoomi issue will have to be based in mutual understanding, not force.”
BJP looks to reach moderate masses
The VHP is enlisting Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, Morari Bapu and Asaram Bapu to create an alliance marrying political, religious and environmental causes
by Priyanka P. Narain
Mumbai: You cant ask for a better brand ambassador than God.
And so starting next month, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is enlisting Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, Morari Bapu and Asaram Bapu to create an alliance marrying political, religious and environmental causes.
The strategy taps into the godmen’s oft larger-than-life presence among followers to bolster support for the VHP’s main political ally—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—in the next general election.
While the marriage of religion and politics is nothing new, analysts say there appears to be an effort to reach out to more moderate Hindus, who won’t be swayed on religious issues, such as where Ram was born, but might be on others, such as cleaning the Ganges.
POLITICAL MANTRA (PDF)
Ramdev, for example, has repeatedly said his movement is not a religious one, but focuses on leading a more peaceful and balanced life through yoga and meditation.
Beginning in September, he will help launch the first part of a nationwide campaign to save the Ganges.
“We will have constructive agitations. Along the river, people will come together to pray, meditate and do pranayam,” said Surendra Tijarawala, spokesman for Ramdev, the convener of the Ganga Raksha Manch. “The river has been abused for long enough. No more. This river is a symbol of the Hindu civilization that was nurtured by its holy waters. It is time we give back what we are taking from it.”
The alliance is an intentional about-face from another forged in 1990 by the VHP with the support of pontiffs such as the Shankaracharyas, or the heads of monasteries, and sadhus.
That year, when BJP leader L.K. Advani launched a 6,000km “Ram Janmabhoomi” campaign to save the birthplace of the Hindu king, none of those religious leaders had followings outside a group of traditional followers, unlike the current alliance.
And the pitch of that campaign to save Ram’s birthplace at the expense of the Babri Mosque—and the bloodshed that followed—scared away moderate Hindus and soured the party’s image.
This time, observers say, the case will be different as the four gurus involved have historically positioned themselves more as humanitarians than religious leaders.
Observers say the four gurus have positioned themselves as humanitarians rather than religious leaders
It is expected they can together reach millions of mostly moderate followers in India’s 600,000 villages and the disapora in more than 160 countries with a joint message to save the river, save Adam’s Bridge (which some Hindus call Ram Sethu, the bridge built by Ram to Sri Lanka) from dredging, and to preserve temples from both ruin and government interference.
Already, in Haridwar, Hinduism’s political organizations have begun using these gurus to speak on these issues with anecdotal success. Whether their embrace of politics will potentially alienate those who just turn to them for a daily message of renewal, or a more flexible yoga pose could not be ascertained.
Morari Bapu is a popular kathakaar (preacher), known for giving sermons that last as long as nine days. Asaram Bapu is a spiritual guru based in Ahmedabad; police are investigating the deaths of two boys last week at his ashram. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation aims torelieve stress at an individual level, and to relieve disease and violence at a societal level.
Through a spokesman, the founder said environmental degradation and global warming is a major crisis facing the world today, and that his role in the Ganga Raksha Manch is part of a multi-pronged approach the group is taking.
Shital Parikh, a Mumbai-based homemaker, is an ardent follower, but says she has never been political. Still, she says she’s happy to join the causes mentioned. “First is that we need to conserve our natural resources as a country. Second is that this is to save our culture. Guruji is taking leadership to conserve and save. Of course, I will participate in any way he wants me to,” she said.
Expecting others to mirror her trust and devotion, organizers remain hopeful their strategy will work. “No government can face such pressure. It is unlike anything we have ever done before,” said Vyankatesh Abdeo, general secretary at the VHP. “We are handing over leadership to the spiritual leaders of this country and trust that they will advise their followers well.”
The second part of the campaign begins on the day after Dussehra, when Hindus celebrate the victory of good over evil mythologically exemplified by the day Ram vanquished Ravana.
“That day we will begin rath (chariot) yatras across the country. The first chariot will carry a Ganga-kalash, a pot containing Ganges water, an image of the Ram Sethu and an image of the proposed temple at Ayodhya,” said Abdeo. “The sadhus will address rallies along the way telling people to do vote for the party that can deliver.”
Observers say this new strategy of involving gurus with mass appeal, if executed well, could help the BJP.
G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, a political analyst and Mint columnist, notes that the makings of an alliance were already visible when Ramdev appeared at the book launch of Advani’s autobiography, My Country My Life, earlier this year.
Ramdev told the crowd that India needs a prime minister like Advani, according to Rao.
“It all depends on how they do it. VHP and RSS are considered the Hindu hotheads. But these gurus have a lot of mass goodwill behind them. So, if they keep the pitch reasonable, this might work,” Rao said.
Efforts are being made to keep it reasonable. At Ramdev’s ashram, Tijarawala said the main focus remains declaring the Ganges a national heritage and saving the Ram Sethu, the controversial site of a project to dredge the walkway between India and Sri Lanka to shorten shipping routes.
Tijarawala said Ramdev was less committed to the building of a Ram temple, calling that issue “a political game of votes”. He added: “This country is a country of many religions. That is its strength. So, the solution to the Ramjanmabhoomi issue will have to be based in mutual understanding, not force.”
July 11, 2008
Hindutva High Flyer Uranium Swami and the US Sangh Dealer lobby for the Nuclear Deal
[Om Uranium Uranium Om Swa Ha!. 'National Interest' and Some 'responsible' (respectable) men of the Sangh Lend their weight. They do it wonderfully, for social legitimation. BJP opposes, other branches support. They are at all levels and all sides, inside and outside. With Uncle Sam and for swadeshi'national soveregnty'. They negotiated the deal, but opposed it in national interest while in opposition. Great artists in manipulation. See two reports below]
o o o
Indian Express
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/bBack-nuke-deal-Sri-Sri-Ravi-Shankar-to-Opposition-b/333942/
Back nuke deal: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to Opposition
Agencies
Posted online: Thursday , July 10, 2008 at 05:35:57
Washington, July 10: Invoking national interest, renowned spiritual guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, has appealed to all Indian political parties to display ‘magnanimity’ and support the troubled Indo-US nuclear deal.
"All parties must support the deal that is beneficial to the country," he said.
India has always had a tradition of the government and opposition coming together in national interest whenever a crisis of war befall on the nation, he said, appealing to all the political parties to display magnanimity on the issue.
"At a time when the country is faced with severe energy shortage, the government has negotiated a nuclear deal with the US, which can augment sustainable energy sources," he said in a statement issued in Seattle.
"The opposition need not oppose everything that the government does," Sri Sri added.
o o o
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080711/jsp/nation/story_9533437.jsp
The Telegraph
July 11 , 2008
Sangh’s friends of deal
by SANJAY K. JHA
New Delhi, July 10: The BJP’s dilemma over pulling down the government on the Indo-US nuclear agreement has prompted a section of party leaders to look for “hidden persuaders” who are working overtime to protect the deal.
Apart from the names of some important BJP leaders, ideologues and former ministers, the list of pro-deal “suspects” includes even senior RSS leaders.
Sources said Ved Nanda, a professor with the University of Denver in the US and a Sangh parivar member, has succeeded in convincing many senior RSS leaders on the necessity of the deal. They said the recent foreign tours of some RSS and BJP leaders are being viewed in this light.
Nanda entered the RSS through the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and gained prominence by launching the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) in the US in 1989. But the most striking feature, RSS sources claimed, is that he is close to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
Apart from being an influential Hindu protagonist, Nanda is also known in RSS circles as Rice’s teacher. Rice went to study at the University of Denver and Nanda teaches at the John Evans School of Law at the university, where her father was also employed.
Nanda has been coming to India to attend conferences organised by the RSS. “Nanda has a close association with top RSS leaders like Mohan Bhagwat, Madandas Devi, S. Gurumurthy and Ram Madhav,” a source said, claiming that the professor had been pushing for the nuclear deal from the very beginning.
The pro-deal section of the parivar believes that the BJP has “become a prisoner of dogmatism” and now “many leaders are feeling suffocated because of the party’s strident opposition to the nuclear deal”.
Another source said: “When L.K. Advani attempted a course correction, he had the blessings of some RSS leaders and a large section of younger BJP leaders and a few apolitical Right-wing ideologues. But RSS chief Sudarshan and a section of the BJP stood firm. The pro-deal leaders also yielded because the government had not done enough to take the Opposition on board. Otherwise, the BJP would have taken a different position.”
Many BJP leaders conceded in private that “the American lobby” was still active and the leadership resisted immense pressure to alter its stand.
Now that the deal is almost done, the pro-US camp in the Sangh parivar is not very upset.
o o o
Indian Express
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/bBack-nuke-deal-Sri-Sri-Ravi-Shankar-to-Opposition-b/333942/
Back nuke deal: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to Opposition
Agencies
Posted online: Thursday , July 10, 2008 at 05:35:57
Washington, July 10: Invoking national interest, renowned spiritual guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, has appealed to all Indian political parties to display ‘magnanimity’ and support the troubled Indo-US nuclear deal.
"All parties must support the deal that is beneficial to the country," he said.
India has always had a tradition of the government and opposition coming together in national interest whenever a crisis of war befall on the nation, he said, appealing to all the political parties to display magnanimity on the issue.
"At a time when the country is faced with severe energy shortage, the government has negotiated a nuclear deal with the US, which can augment sustainable energy sources," he said in a statement issued in Seattle.
"The opposition need not oppose everything that the government does," Sri Sri added.
o o o
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080711/jsp/nation/story_9533437.jsp
The Telegraph
July 11 , 2008
Sangh’s friends of deal
by SANJAY K. JHA
New Delhi, July 10: The BJP’s dilemma over pulling down the government on the Indo-US nuclear agreement has prompted a section of party leaders to look for “hidden persuaders” who are working overtime to protect the deal.
Apart from the names of some important BJP leaders, ideologues and former ministers, the list of pro-deal “suspects” includes even senior RSS leaders.
Sources said Ved Nanda, a professor with the University of Denver in the US and a Sangh parivar member, has succeeded in convincing many senior RSS leaders on the necessity of the deal. They said the recent foreign tours of some RSS and BJP leaders are being viewed in this light.
Nanda entered the RSS through the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and gained prominence by launching the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) in the US in 1989. But the most striking feature, RSS sources claimed, is that he is close to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
Apart from being an influential Hindu protagonist, Nanda is also known in RSS circles as Rice’s teacher. Rice went to study at the University of Denver and Nanda teaches at the John Evans School of Law at the university, where her father was also employed.
Nanda has been coming to India to attend conferences organised by the RSS. “Nanda has a close association with top RSS leaders like Mohan Bhagwat, Madandas Devi, S. Gurumurthy and Ram Madhav,” a source said, claiming that the professor had been pushing for the nuclear deal from the very beginning.
The pro-deal section of the parivar believes that the BJP has “become a prisoner of dogmatism” and now “many leaders are feeling suffocated because of the party’s strident opposition to the nuclear deal”.
Another source said: “When L.K. Advani attempted a course correction, he had the blessings of some RSS leaders and a large section of younger BJP leaders and a few apolitical Right-wing ideologues. But RSS chief Sudarshan and a section of the BJP stood firm. The pro-deal leaders also yielded because the government had not done enough to take the Opposition on board. Otherwise, the BJP would have taken a different position.”
Many BJP leaders conceded in private that “the American lobby” was still active and the leadership resisted immense pressure to alter its stand.
Now that the deal is almost done, the pro-US camp in the Sangh parivar is not very upset.
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