Sri Sri’s Ayodhya Comment is an Attempt to Influence Court Process

Sri Sri’s comment that India will see a Syria-like situation undermines not only the courts, but also democracy.

Prof Purushottam Agarwal slams Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s comment, “This is utterly irresponsible and reprehensible.”

(Photo: Meghnad Bose/The Quint)

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar

However much damage control Sri Sri Ravi Shankar tries to do, the implied threat in his voice cannot be ignored. He has stated that if the decision in the Ayodhya conflict is “not in favour of Hindus”, then we will have a Syria-like situation in the country. When criticism followed, he defended his statement saying it should be taken as a warning, not a threat.

The question is, who is the warning for? The case is in the Supreme Court. So is Ravi Shankar warning the Supreme Court? Or in other words, is he saying that irrespective of the court’s decision, they will do what they want?

From the way it has been said, it is clear that the Supreme Court should focus less on the legal aspects, evidence or arguments, and pay more attention to this threat or warning — that if a favourable decision is not given then a Syria-like situation can arise.

Irrespective of their stand on the Ayodhya dispute, every Indian needs to be wary of such statements. Even those who are BJP voters. They should probably be even more wary. The reason being that this statement isn’t just a warning or a threat to courts, but also to the democratic process that is being distracted from.

Today, the issue is the Ayodhya dispute, tomorrow someone else in power, or those associated with them, can again deliver a similar threat or warning or suggestion to the courts on some other issue. To understand what a Syria-like situation means, we need to step away from Indian TV channels and dig deeper and see the dire state Syria’s administration and society have been reduced to.

Read the full article here.

(The writer is Contributing Editor for Hindi Quint. He can be reached @puru_ag. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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