Spiritual
guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's three-day festival made headlines as much
for his grand show as for the row with the National Green Tribunal and
Delhi High Court who said the event was held on the ecologically
sensitive Yamuna floodplains. In an interview in Bengaluru, he tells TOI
the fest actually made things better, but he will think twice before
venturing into the Yamuna again. How did the World Culture Festival go? Did the response surpass your expectations?
It was amazing. I was very surprised by the response... by the way
people stood, even in the rain, and danced the first day. The rain could
not dampen their enthusiasm. I'm more surprised by the pace at which
it's been cleaned the very next day. I thought it would take three-four
days.
Couldn't the mounds of garbage on the Yamuna floodplains have been avoided by having better waste management systems in place? Lakhs of people had food, water and other things. They can't take the garbage with them. All that has been cleaned.
Considering it is an ecologically sensitive area, couldn't this adding of garbage have been avoided?
First of all, had you seen the place, it was a dumping ground. Not a
park, not a sanctuary. It was not a place with birds, it was not
beautiful. It was stinking. Nobody would say it was an ecologically pure
place. Today, it has become clean. The place was toxic. Our being there
has not created damage, it has cleansed the place.
What
was your interest in holding it at that location? Your previous
celebrations to mark anniversaries were held in Bengaluru's Jakkur
airfield, Berlin's Olympiastadion, places that can handle such crowds I could have gone to a much better place, it would have cost me much less.
Exactly. Why didn't you?
The intention of having it there is to see that the Yamuna gets more
attention, and it is easy for all people to come there. And the
government should take notice of the cleaning of the 17 nullahs that was
not done.
Is that happening? Or will it happen? Now the attention is there, we will press for government to do that.
So you're saying the negative attention is a good thing, it has served a purpose?
The 17 drains of Delhi are going into Yamuna without getting treated.
So... I have spoken about that already. Let me keep aside those things
and let me come to the programme. Is there any place in Delhi that can
hold such a programme? No place in Delhi can hold so many people. And so
many countries participated. It's a pride for India. It's something
happening in India.
As an international dignitary said, PM is
talking about Made in India-Make in India, now this is Happening India.
India has proven to the world it has the capacity to do something
gigantic. Now we can even host Olympics.
We organised a massive
three-day programme despite a terror alert and unfriendly weather
without incident. This shows we have the capacity. One of the miraculous
things is the stage we built. The NGT's main concern was that big
stage. They did not believe it was without a foundation. A 3 lakh sqm
stage, 40 feet high, they said it is impossible without a deep
foundation. But this stage was on plates, we did not dig anywhere.... a
floating stage sitting on the river bank. This is the most magnificent
stage, the largest stage the world has ever seen — in itself a wonder.
Farmers raised objections and said their crops had been flattened...
Yes, there are people on both sides of the river. Farmers were
cultivating, we have spoken to the farmers, we have given them
compensation money for three days.
There was a lot of criticism about the army building pontoon bridges for your event. Did you request the Army's help?
It is baseless. It is the duty of the Army, of the government of the
moment to take care of people's security. When 172 dignitaries of
various countries are coming to a place, the onus of security and of
free movement of people, everything lies on the government. They've done
their duty. If they had not built the pontoon bridges, they would have
failed in their duty to organise such a huge [event], so I thank the
Army. In fact, we would have loved to have five bridges but we could
have only three, but those three were done very well. There were holding
grounds on the other side of the Yamuna with screens and chairs so
people could sit there and watch. Otherwise, with such a large event,
there could have been a stampede. We have good experience in organising
large events without any incidents. We plan very well.
So didn't the planning team anticipate the possibility of damage to the floodplains?
If someone had raised this concern at least three or six months before,
we would not have gone to this place at all. But when the stage is half
done, just 20 days before the programme, when people have booked
tickets, I feel this is done with malicious intention. It's not the
right intention.
Why would there be malicious intent?
That I have no idea (laughs). You know, when an event of that magnitude
happens, such obstacles come up. But it also shows how determined our
volunteers are and we have made the programme a success.
NGT has said the floodplains were levelled, the soil compacted...
I have all the pictures, we are going to contest that sort of thing.
But I want to say that NGT also said we have not violated any laws. We
wanted place. They should have told me this place is not available, it
is ecologically sensitive and we cannot give you.
Does that mean you won't pay the damages?
NGT very clearly said we have not violated anything. They have asked
for a compensation. This is a very funny thing. It is like even if you
go in a green light, you will get a challan (laughs).
Will you be paying the amount?
To develop that place, we are willing to do it [pay the compensation],
but first we need to make it clear that it is not a fine or penalty as
mentioned in most of the media. Fine or penalty is only if you violate a
law but when you have obtained all permissions, where is the question
of penalty? Only when the court clarified that it is not a penalty, we
said ok, we'll pay compensation. We have paid compensation to farmers.
We have no hesitation in paying this. If there is a fine, I will not.
You've
said you wanted to have the event on the floodplains to highlight the
state of the river. Will you continue your activities at the Yamuna?
I have to think about it now. Even if you do the best work, if it is
not taken in good spirit, why should you even venture into such things?
So you're saying doing good has to be tempered and has to have results?
My commitment to doing something good to Yamuna is always there, but
whether I will venture to do something there now, I will have to think.
Another
criticism was about the enzymes that Art of Living released into the
Yamuna to clean it. What were these enzymes and how were they tested?
Some of these experts do not have any expertise. They don't know what
technology is being used around the world. Enzyme use is proven in the
world. These people have no idea about it so they will object. That's
why I said before doing good, you have to see what type of response you
will get. It is easy to work with uneducated people, it is easy to work
with educated people, but people with half-baked knowledge is a real
challenge. They think they know but they do not know (laughs). That is
the challenge but we need to go with patience.
Where did you test the enzymes and who ran these tests and verified the results?
We have labs, we have an institute with ex-agriculture directors from
all over the country, we have experts in our institute. We teach farmers
organic farming — one wing of our work. Scientists showed 100,000 Delhi
homes how to prepare the enzyme that takes three months to make.
Was the government informed about the release?
The Jal Board chief is on our committee. The government, Delhi
government, all were informed. It was all done meticulously. It was not
some chaotic idea. They should look into the credentials of the
petitioners. Who are the petitioners, what have they done? This is what
people should do rather than question our credibility. Isn't it?
Did you have an expert team that did an assessment before you decided on the Yamuna banks as your venue?
No damage was done. We left the place even better than what it was
before. In one day, they have removed all the garbage, I expected them
to take more time. Our job is not to clean the Yamuna, our job is to
clean the minds of people. I will first clean the minds of people and
then make them clean Yamuna because we have so much negativity for
everything. Instead of welcoming an effort which will make India
proud... this big a programme has not happened in China...
China hosted the Olympics...
This is nothing short of the Olympics or FIFA games. This was webcast
in 185 countries. How many cities this was watched in! If it was not
something of importance, why would the world watch? Why would
dignitaries from around the world participate? There were many firsts in
our cultural programme. Another miraculous thing. Can you imagine a
show of that size had only one day of rehearsal? The rest was done
online. Thousands of people learnt the music, the rhythm [without
meeting]... first time in the world such a thing has happened. We showed
the world, such magic can happen.
When we put up the idea,
people said it is not possible. Even for five people to sing together
needs a lot of practice. We had thousands, especially the masterpiece
with 30 kinds of dances in a sequence. We'll present this to Broadway
and on such international platforms.
How many months of planning went into the Festival?
Almost a year. Dances and all, we started about six months ago. Real
work started a year ago: venue selection, inviting guests. There are a
lot of challenges — buses would get stuck, it was muddy. Because of my
commitment to environment, I would not allow any tar or cement or
anything into that place. No sand was brought from outside. It was all
temporary structures. We would not have faced so many challenges
elsewhere. Behind the sheds, there is still grass today. And the stage,
no cement. Even the security agencies said they couldn't believe this
stage would be safe without a foundation. Only plates and rods were
used.
Where are your engineering experts from?
That is our speciality. We had to build a special stage for the Prime
Minister because security agencies didn't believe it was safe. It is a
new concept. Whenever you want to do something not traditional,
something innovative, people do not understand. We have a very good team
of educated, highly creative young people who should be given a chance
to show their expertise.
source indiatimes
