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Video Editor: Sunil Goswami
Dear Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, happy birthday! As you celebrate your 62nd birthday, we have decided to look back at your accomplishments. A self-styled godman, spiritual leader, founder of Art of Living and the ‘destroyer of the floodplains of Yamuna’.
Yes, that’s what you did when you decided to organise your World Cultural Festival 2016 on the floodplains of an already dying Yamuna in Delhi. Violating the order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) that didn’t allow any construction on the floodplains of Yamuna, you built a 40-feet-long stage, invited dignitaries from 155 countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and why? To attract “international focus” to the condition of Yamuna?
Mr Ravi Shankar, on your birthday, the farmers of Yamuna bank and environmentalists have a special message for you.
The people that suffered the most from Sri Sri’s “Olympics of Culture” were the farmers who cultivate their crops in Yamuna floodplains.
Some farmers even claimed that when the Art of Living volunteers were ‘preparing’ the bank of Yamuna for the event, they bulldozed their farms.
In December 2017, the NGT held Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Art of Living responsible for the damage to the floodplains of Yamuna and slapped a fine of Rs 5 crore. However, environmental experts are of the view that the damage has been done.
Anand Arya, a petitioner in the case against Art of Living, claims that the World Culture Festival caused a minimum damage of Rs 9 crore per year.
So, to wrap it up, over two years have passed since the World Cultural Festival was held in 2016, and neither did Art of Living meet its target of 35 lakh visitors, nor has the situation of the Yamuna river changed. In fact, the condition of the river has only deteriorated due to the attempts Sri Sri Ravi Shankar made to restore it.
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