The Ayodhya Ram janmabhoomi dispute is one of the oldest contentious issues in India. Art of Living founder, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is attempting to resolve this issue through mediation as per Supreme Court’s past directions. While it is true that past attempts have failed and the trial is ongoing in the apex court, there is nothing wrong in trying to resolve it amicably out of court.
In the course of this exercise, he had made some comments in the media that created controversy. He later clarified that his comments on ‘Syria like situation’ in the aftermath of a court verdict were a caution and not a threat. Perhaps he chose the wrong word or example when he cited Syria, but it was not meant with any violent intentions.
The spiritual guru tried to engage with The Wire to convey his thoughts on his mediation efforts through an interview. The kind of treatment meted out to him by the journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani — earlier an employee with the Rajya Sabha TV when Hamid Ansari was the Vice President of India — in the interview is not only sad, but also disgusting.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar tried to carry the message of peace and reconciliation through his interview and tried to clarify his controversial comments on Syria. In return, he was demonised and projected as a person who believes in Hindu domination rather than constitution/rule of law.
Sherwani instead of building bridges between Hindus and Muslims, brought in Veer Savarkar into the debate. It is widely known that Savarkar has been demonised through persistent propaganda by the secular ecosystem for decades. Though Sri Sri has repeatedly clarified that his mission is apolitical and in sync with Supreme court’s direction to resolve the issue out of court, she asked him if he was connected with RSS and BJP.
Though Sri Sri could have answered ‘no’ and carried on with the interview he preferred to stop interacting with a person who displayed visceral hatred and aggression to his ideas. Perhaps he detected that the intention of the journalist was to malign him by twisting his words during the course of his interview.
Now, this matter could have been presented as such, but The Wire went on to allege that Sri Sri’s followers shut the cameras by force.
After the journalist had managed to force Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to quit the interview midway, the left-liberal ecosystem praised her for her ‘tough’ questions and celebrated her success in maligning Sri Sri with this suspicious accusation.
Let us admit that every public personality must be questioned and held accountable to all their statements which affect public at large. Similarly, the journalist who is making accusations should also be held accountable for the accusation she makes.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s admirers posted videos shot from another angle which showed that the camera was not blocked forcibly as per The Wire‘s accusation. They asked the journalist to apologise. Sri Sri’s followers were visibly angered by an unqualified accusation by The Wire.
Hey @thewire_in and @khanumarfa I always knew you were dirty wretched Liars. Is the video sent online the real end? Or did it end this way. Where is pulling and pushing. BTW, it is from one of your own.
Will you apologize to @SriSri and @ArtofLiving pic.twitter.com/nTJ3wrCttS— Suresh N (@surnell) March 15, 2018
Exposing #WireTheLiar pic.twitter.com/LvL3S8cvAP
— Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) March 16, 2018
In response to the demand by Sri Sri’s admirers and followers, The Wire did not produce any fresh evidence to prove their claim. Neither did they apologise to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for leveling the accusation. Instead they resorted to playing the victim card and put the onus of decency and good behaviour on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his supporters.
How can those who are hostile and full of hatred respect love and goodwill? This is like asking Indian Army to hug stone-pelters in Kashmir.
This is very similar to the episode where The Wire wore the badge of an honest news portal trying to expose the high and mighty when OpIndia revealed their plans to defame Arun Jaitley. This strategy of hit, run and play victim when confronted is a standard operating procedure of anti Hindu secular brigade in India. .
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and all peace loving Hindus must learn one lesson from this episode. You can’t gain the goodwill and admiration of the anti-Hindu brigade with reasonable and polite demands of Hindus. They will treat you with contempt and hatred if you show even the slightest affinity to Modi, BJP and RSS. You have to become Hinduphobic if you wish to be treated well by this ecosystem.
