Madras HC stays Art of Living event at UNESCO site in Tamil Nadu

December 8: After a major controversy centering an event organised at Yamuna flood plains (New Delhi) by Art of Living (AOL), Sri Sri Ravishankar’s organisation has again hit the headlines. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim injunction against a meditation event organised by Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living at the Sri Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The court’s order came hours before the event was to begin on Friday, in response to a writ petition filed at 11 am in the morning. The Madurai bench has further ordered for the removal of the temporary structure set up to accommodate those attending the ‘meditation camp’ and adjourned the case to Monday.

Controversy erupted over the event on Thursday after pictures of the large pandal set up by AOL on the temple grounds began to do the rounds on social media. The event was supposed to begin at 6pm on Friday and over 800 guests were expected. Sri Sri Ravishankar who was to conduct a discourse of Kashmiri Shaivism has infact arrived in the state to attend the event. However, heritage experts and political parties condemned the Archaeological Society of India’s decision to permit the private event on Friday and Saturday.

Following this, protests broke out outside the temple on Friday morning and N Venakatesh, a resident of Kumbakonam filed a petition in court opposing the event. He pointed out that AOL had already been fined by the National Green Tribunal for ‘damaging’ the Yamuna river bank during an event in 2016. The petitioner questioned why an offender was being allowed to carry out an event at a UNESCO world heritage site. In addition to this, he pointed out that it is a 1000-year-old temple and setting up tents could weaken its structure in addition to the threat of pollution at the site.

Following the court’s order, Art of Living said it is shifting the venue for the event to a private property. The organisation’s media coordinator Raji Swaminathan, however. claimed opposition to the event could be politically motivated. “Sri Sri Ravishankar is apolitical but he is linked to the BJP for no reason,” Swaminathan said. “These protests seem to be a targeted campaign with political viewpoints in mind. This is just a perception issue.”