Sri Sri and His Siddhi For Being A Hypocrite

File under: Gurubusting and The Siddhi of PR

Yesterday, we reminded you about the time when Sri Sri Ravi Shankar threw away a golden opportunity to share his message of peace by taking a stand against the murderous actions of Narendra Modi, the prime minister of Gujurat during the Great Muslim Massacre of 2002. Here is how it was reported by Rediff on March 26, 2005:

[Sri Sri] provided the organisation with a show of support for its controversial decision to invite Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and took a dig both at the Bush administration for declaring Modi persona non grata in the US and the coalition of groups that successfully lobbied to bring about the US action to ban Modi's entry.

Sri Sri goes on to openly praise the killin' politician that day:

Sri Sri then went on to talk about the unprecedented progress that was occurring in Gujarat under the Modi administration. He noted that more than 40,000 dams had been constructed in just one year. "The water level has come up in Gujarat so much. People are so happy," he said.

Those not violently murdered in the Modi-sanctioned pogrom against Indian Muslims, that is.

Since then, the origins of the affair have fully come to light in an astonishing exposé by India's Tehelka magazine. This no doubt has Sri Sri wishing for a time machine to take him back to that conference to take back those words of praise and support for a genocidist. But until he manifests one for himself, Sri Sri be doing flips and cartwheels for the Indian press in an effort to keep them from remembering his not-too-far-in-the-past strong show of support for the murderin' Modi:

"I congratulate the reporter (of Tehelka magazine) who has done this (the sting operation in which the perpetrators of the violence have been caught on camera admitting to the killings) and would like him to undertake similar operations on the anti-Sikh riots (of 1984) and Naxalite violence in the country," Sri Sri said.

Describing the Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra as the biggest threat to the country's internal security, Sri Sri urged the media to address the serious problem.

"I would appeal to the media to insist on the introduction of moral and spiritual instruction in the school curriculum as that would ennoble the young, impressionable minds," he said, attributing violent tendencies to the disappearance of spiritual content from instruction at homes and schools.

Did you catch that somewhat deft redirection of attention to other religious conflicts? Why worry about this itty-bity (and implicitly endorsed by Sri Sri) government-sponsored pogrom? There's a lot more to worry about out there, folks, with Sri Sri likely to continue reminding us all about it.

We've been told we're foolish for trying to discuss Indian politics. Our ignorance of its subtleties (and perhaps generalities) aside, it's all in the black and white: Sri Sri supported a politician who was at least partially responsible for the death of some 800 people or more. Now he's flipping and headspinning like a champion Bronx breakdancer to keep you from remembering it.

Will the amazing Sri Sri Ravi Shankar be able to escape this harsh light and the resulting neck-snapping hypocrisy he's now caught in? Fingers and toes are crossed that he doesn't. But unfortunately, from somewhere deep inside, we regret that he probably will.