Bangalore, Jul 2 (DC): Replying to the allegation made by Agni editor Agni Sridhar, Sri Sri Ravishankar, founder of Art Of Living Foundation (AoL) on Thursday clarified that they were compassionate and firm in dealing with anti-social elements. He also made it clear that the Foundation would not budge or fall into the trap of miscreants nor would ‘fictitious stories’ pose a threat to them.
Sridhar and AoL have been at loggerheads over a 15 acre land deal with Sridhar claiming that the land was earlier sold to an NRI. Sri Sri also urged people to be patient and not to take the law into their hands. “Truth will always triumph. An extortionist cannot hide under the garb of helping the downtrodden. False propaganda will not work. Earlier, Sridhar had threatened to malign me using a fabricated video of women. When he failed he moved on to a non-existent land issue,” he claimed.
“The land was purchased from the landlord M. Vijay after verifying the documents. The landlord was a Brahmin and not a Dalit as claimed by Sridhar,” he clarified. The AoL has built toilets and community centres in 20 villages surrounding the AoL ashram and is providing free food along with education to 2,000 children. “We have been spending crores of rupees for the welfare of the poor. We would urge the police to take action against those who try to create disharmony and thrive on false propaganda,” he said.