Why are environmentalists and tribals against Sadhguru?
The 60 year old Padma Vibhushan, mystic Yogi, Jaggi Vasudev, more commonly known as Sadhguru, has become a household name, thanks to his insightful discussions with celebrities like KJo, Prasoon Joshi, Barkha Dutt, Shekhar Kapur, Juhi Chawla and Virender Sehwag. His flagship programme for well-being, Inner Engineering, that promises a scientific solution to confront the vicissitudes of modern life, has earned him millions of followers (read: seekers) across the globe.
All this has taken place despite a litany of ignominious allegations against this jet-age guru on matters ranging from ecological destruction, theft of traditional knowledge of tribals, abduction of young girls, to murder of his own wife ! The recent article by Suhasini Ali in thewire.in has alleged Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation of grabbing land rightfully belonging to tribals around Coimbatore.
Before we go into the details of some of these allegations, a brief backgrounder on Sadhguru:
Born as Jaggi Vasudev to an opthalmologist in 1957, Sadhguru graduated in English literature from University of Mysore. After dabbling in some businesses, including poultry farm and construction, Sadhguru experienced “enlightenment” , at the age of 25, while on a motorcycle trip to Chamundi Hill (near Mysore).
He started his Yoga classes at age 26 and got married at 27. Sadhguru established the Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore at 36. He started conducting Yoga classes in US in 1997 , the same year as the death of his wife.
By 2000, he was speaking at World Economic Forum on inter-faith dialogue. Sadhguru was named among the 100 most powerful Indians in 2012 by Indian Express. In 2017, as Sadhguru turns 70, he has been awarded the second highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan (only behind Bharat Ratna) by GoI
Philanthropic and green efforts:
Under Isha Vidhya, Sadhguru supports education for more than 7000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Project GreenHands is a grassroots ecological initiative by Isha Foundation aimed at fighting desertification in Tamil Nadu, mainly through afforestation. Almost 27 million trees have been planted under this initiative
Through his Action for Rural Rejuvenation, Sadhguru has supported disaster relief, rural healthcare and livelihood generation.
Rally for Rivers was a recent 2017 campaign aimed at reviving the “dying” rivers of India. The month-long rally from Coimbatore to New Delhi was used to garner support of several Chief Ministers to develop a consensus on a national policy for protecting rivers, as water is a state subject in India.
Location of Isha Yoga Center (ISC):
Spread over 150 acres of thick virgin forest, with waterfalls and rivulets, ISC is located at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains. These mountains associated with worship of Shiva are part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which is a World Heritage Site according to UNESCO, lying in the southern western ghats.
Apart from being one of the richest areas of the world in terms of biodiversity, these mountains are the source of origin for Noyyal river, one of the major tributaries of Cauvery, which irrigates several thousand hectares of agricultural lands.
Now, let us analyze the array of diatribes on Sadhguru
Most of the allegations against Sadhguru are related to the construction of Isha Yoga Center and other structures in the ecologically fragile region. Despite two extensive reports by MoEF-constituted Madhav Gadgil Committee and the Kastrurirangan Panel, legal restrictions have not yet been imposed on construction in Western Ghats. Environmentalists claim that ISC is constructed on an elephant corridor (Boluvampatty-Attappadi) . Isha Foundation blog says that there is no elephant corridor within the ashram and that its constructed on a 100% patta land.
For those of you who don’t know, a patta is a Record of Rights (ROR) about land ownership, issued in most cases by the Tehsildar’s Office.
Western ghats is one of the most suitable habitats for Asian elephants. Out of the almost 30,000 elephants in India, maximum (~12,000) are in South India. The 88 elephant corridors in India are heavily fragmented. With only a quarter of corridors under complete forest cover and over 70% of their area less than 1 km wide, man-animal conflicts are very common in India as an elephant herd needs to travel 10–20km everyday. In the face of nearly 3000 human deaths in the last seven years due to such conflicts, Supreme Court has recently asked the Centre to make 27 high priority elephant corridors in nine states human free by acquiring land. Without these crucial linkages between elephant habitats, no sustainable efforts to conserve elephants is possible.
It is also alleged that the constructions, lying in the catchment area of the Noyyal river, obstruct and pollute the river. It is contended that despite the land acquired by Isha Foundation being fertile, including the presence of a major irrigation channel, ‘Raja Canal’, the district collector of Coimbatore, TN Hariharan, provided certification for the area being bereft of irrigation facilities. In the reply on their blog, Isha Foundation has acknowledged that a stream from Noyyal flows near the Ashram but denies any pollution or blockage caused by them.
The curious case of Muthamma
The tribal woman Muthamma worked at the Isha Ashram 20 years ago as a daily wage labourer. Subsequently she joined a SHG setup by a local NGO. She alleges that not only did the Isha Foundation acquired the land rightfully belonging to her and 200 other tribal families, it also used them to obtain the traditional knowledge of tribals related to minor forest produce (medicinal and edible herbs like neem, amla, shikakai), and abandoned them subsequently.
While ishashoppe.com does sell many medicinal herbs, Sadhguru has categorically rejected all such allegations. During the recent World Economic Forum session, “An Insight, An Idea with Sadhguru”, he called all such accusations as works of pulp fiction.
Unveiling of 112 feet high bust of Adiyogi by PM Modi
The statue weighing 500 tonnes, inaugurated by Mr.Modi on 24 February 2017 (Mahashivratri) , has been recognized as the “largest bust sculpture” by Guinness World Records.
A PIL filed in Madras High Court by Velliangiri Hill Tribal Protection Society has challenged the construction of the Adiyogi statue and other structures built by Isha Yoga Center, allegedly on wetlands. The requisite permissions were not obtained by them from the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA).
It became national news when Retd. Madras High Court judge D.Hariparanthaman gave a press statement: (as per Livemint)
“The Isha Foundation has over 13 lakh sq. feet of illegal constructions and the visit by the prime minister may interfere with the administration of justice.”
Hariparanthaman argued that Mr.Modi’s visit would legitimize the violation of norms by the organization. Many environment activists further complained about the adverse impact on wild animals due to the heavy machinery used for such “illegal” constructions.
Nonetheless, all festivities continued as planned with many Chief Ministers flocking to the event along with PM Modi, reminding one of the Art of Living Foundation’s mega-event in 2016, ruining Yamuna floodplains, despite similar warnings from environmentalists.
Almost 500 protesters were arrested in Coimbatore on that day. BJP leader H.Raja dismissed these protesters and alleged that only atheists and left parties were against the Shivratri celebrations.
Barely a week after the event, Tamil Nadu Govt. filed a counter affidavit in the Madras HC confirming that illegal structures had been built by Isha Foundation, as permission for the same was not taken from HACA, which it assured is the competent body for such permissions in these villages.
Isha Foundation had already been served with a lock & seal and demolition notice in 2012 by Directorate of Town and Country Planning, Tamil Nadu. Unsurprisingly, no action was taken on this notice by Tamil Nadu Govt. It is alleged that Isha Foundation used its strong political clout to prevent action.
Isha Foundation’s Reply: According to a response put up by the tech-savvy organization, all such petitions are frivolous, twisted and a misrepresentation of facts. Sadhguru told CNN-News 18 that these activists are nothing but animal hunters ( for venison and wild boar meat), sandalwood smugglers, marijuana planters and traffickers of tribal girls. He said that he’d leave Tamil Nadu if even a single allegation against him is proven to be true.
So, though Isha Foundation took the approval from the District Collector of Coimbatore. But according to Tamil Nadu Government, permission was also required from HACA, Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Department, Forest, Agricultural, and Geology Departments. The Foundation had applied for the permissions but proceeded without obtaining all the clearances.
In his CNN interview, Sadhguru accepted that some of his constructions were in violations of the state regulations, but he cited the multiplicity of rules of different departments as the reason for the confusion. Similar story is narrated by the latest report on the pathetic condition of land records in India by PRS Legislative Research. The report finds that land ownership in India is presumptive in nature, i.e., don’t guarantee ownership. Further land records are poorly maintained and they don’t reflect the on ground position. The different departments maintaining these records at district or village levels work in silos and don’t update the data properly.
A World Bank Study from 2007 states that land-related disputes account for two-thirds of all pending court cases in the country. Cases against Isha Foundation are only but a drop in this ocean of pending cases in India, numbering almost 3 crore. Further, a NITI Aayog paper by Bibek Debroy suggests that land disputes on average take about 20 years to be resolved. Now, with Sadhguru’s political clout, I wouldn’t bet my money on the resolution of this case within a couple of years.
To doubt or not to doubt
In the face of aforementioned allegations, innumerable apologists for Isha Foundation have cropped up on Youtube and other social media platforms who take the line that its immoral to question a Guru who has done so much for charity, ecological conservation etc. Apart from the customary insults (often abusive and misogynistic towards the reporters), they ask the critics to compare their contributions to environment conservation with Isha Foundation’s efforts before pointing fingers at Sadhguru.
Similar arguments were given by Sant Ram Rahim’s followers about his contributions to women empowerment and rural welfare. More importantly, such a posture goes against the basic and often repeated lesson by Sadhguru about the importance of being a seeker and a skeptic. Much like Kaviguru Tagore’s affirmation of a poet’s faith, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev asks his followers to rely on Belief if Solace is all they need. But for getting to the Solution, Seeking is needed. We hope his followers would listen.